Of Cats and Witches
by Lachenna
Summary: When Allen gets cursed by a witch it will change his life forever. Kanda is determined to help him through it. Semi-AU. Takes place after Allen leaves the Order (specifics inside). AllenxKanda. Lemons.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

It's been roughly eight months since Allen fled the Order, following the events of chapter 205. Most of the events after that still happened, but some did not. And everything post hiatus definitely did not: I'm not even gonna try to figure out where Hoshino-Sensei is going with the most recent chapters, it'll only hurt my head.

-The story explains it better than I can here, so just read it already. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I was excited for this mission. Link had continued to follow my every move for four months after Neah left, and now he, too, was finally gone. Nothing was going to get me down. Until I saw the mission folder. Master Cross was alive and well, and somewhere in Istanbul. And I was being sent to get him and drag him back to the Order. Damn.

And to make things worse, my mission partner was none other than Kanda Yuu, antisocial bastard and homicidal samurai. The biggest problem though, was that he was smoking hot. And that I was in love with him. And that he hated my guts.

Yet he had come after me when I fled from the Order. Those three weeks when we were on the run together were still a source of confusion. Because he hadn't dragged me back. And he had helped me find a new host for Neah. Hell, he even held me when I learned that Timcanpy was dead. I just didn't know how to process how out of character the whole thing was for him. And when I asked him why he just said he owed me for what happened with Alma. An obvious lie.

And now here we were, together in Istanbul, looking for Master Cross. I both hated and loved every second of it. Much like how I felt about a certain samurai. And I vaguely wondered if this mission was going to be as hopeless. Because even if I managed to work up the courage to tell him, he would reject me. And even if by some miracle he did accept me, and there were certainly some behaviors that made me wonder if he might, nothing could ever happen between us. We worked for the Church, and the Church considered homosexuality a mortal sin. Not even our positions as the two strongest exorcists could save us from that.

A sudden gust of cold snapped me out of my thoughts. The chilly October air flowed into the cafe as more customers came and went. I sighed and shook my head to rid myself of my melancholy. My tea was gone, and I had wasted far too much time; I was going to be late and that would only piss Kanda off more than he already was. I pulled my hood on as I left the cafe, though it did little to protect me from the wind. The streets were crowded and I wove through the people as quickly as I could.

I was near the inn when it happened, I could see Kanda glaring at everything as he waited for me. I was maybe a block away...

The woman who bumped into me was dressed rather strangely, though in my exorcist uniform I wasn't exactly one to judge. She wasn't wearing the colorful garb of the locals or the conservative style of the European tourists. It was some sort of blend of the two, and it was really ... odd. Especially with her hair. Brunette with blue streaks wasn't exactly a normal color, but again I wasn't in a position to judge. She seemed to be in a hurry, and I expected her to just keep moving, but she didn't. She turned like she was going to apologize, but froze when she saw me, or rather the rose cross on my chest.

.x.x.

I watched Allen's exchange with the strange woman from afar. I knew he wouldn't want me to intervene, but a feeling in my chest said something bad was about to happen, so I made my way towards them. My concern soared when I heard my Moyashi scream in pain. Breaking out into a run I somehow managed to simultaneously catch him as he passed out, and draw Mugen and level it at the strange woman. "What did you do?"

"You'll soon find out." She laughed and disappeared. "Curses are so much fun."

A curse? Why would anyone want to curse the Moyashi? The brat was the nicest person on the planet. It was irritating as hell and I had to go and fall in love with him anyway.

The Moyashi whimpered in my arms, and he sounded like he was in a lot of pain. I put Mugen away, and adjusted my hold on the Moyashi, carrying him bridal style back towards the inn.

I made it all of five steps before I was stopped by a man with long, vibrant red hair. _Figures_. We'd been scouring the city for three days looking for General Cross, and now he just waltzes up like he hadn't faked his own death.

"I saw what happened." His tone was all business, no traces of his usual laid back attitude. He placed a hand on the Moyashi's forehead and whispered the words of a spell. Then he swore under his breath. "We need to get him inside."

"No shit." I pushed my way past him. I knew he was following me by the critical stare boring into the back of my head.

.x.x.

Cross had been keeping track of the pair since they'd arrived in Istanbul. Their presence confirmed that the Order knew he was alive, which was what he wanted, but they had caught his trail quicker than expected. He wondered what possessed Komui to send _those two._ Alone together. They turned absolutely everything into an argument. And they were both _criticals._ It wouldn't reflect well on the Order, not that Cross cared about that.

At first he was watching his idiot apprentice, worried over how he was doing with the Fourteenth. But Cross was clever, and it took him no time at all to figure out that Neah was gone. It was relieving to know that the brat was free from that fate. Which left him time for other things, like observing the brat's _lover._ Apparently both boys were idiots. So much time had passed and they still hadn't acted on their feelings, it was painful to watch. Cross would have to do something about that. Just for the fun of meddling, not because he actually cared about love.

Cross was debating whether or not it was time to reveal himself, when circumstances decided for him.

He was proud of his skills as a magician, proud of the skills that enabled him to identify the strange woman in the crowd as a witch. And he knew right away that she was trouble. So he watched her. He watched her aura turn murderous as she noticed something in the crowd. He followed her gaze, and Cross' heart just about stopped. Allen. Though the brat was wearing his hood, so to that witch he was just an exorcist. Cross watched as she began making her way towards the teen. He grit his teeth, even with Maria's shielding he wouldn't make it. This was one of those times he regretted leaving Judgement behind, the normal pistol he carried now would be useless against a witch.

Cross ran, but in the end he could do nothing but watch as the witch bumped into Allen. He couldn't hear what the teen said, but he knew that it was an apology. The brat was too damn polite. Words were exchanged, and Allen's body language clearly indicated that he was frustrated with whatever it was the witch was saying. Then she cast a spell. A curse. And Allen screamed. Cross broke into a sprint, not noticing that Kanda was nearby until after the witch had vanished.

He caught up with Kanda and did a quick examination spell on Allen. It was not good. The curse was too complex. It would take lots of energy, as well as time that they didn't have, to reverse it. And even then it wouldn't work completely. The curse had elements of permanence, and there was simply nothing anyone could do against that. But Cross would try. His apprentice didn't deserve this. Not after everything he'd already gone through.

The first step was to get the teen inside so he could work in privacy.

.x.x.

By the time we reached the inn the Moyashi was practically screaming in pain, though he was somehow still unconscious. I placed him on the bed, my heart aching from hearing him like that. Cross immediately pushed me away. "Make yourself useful, pretty boy, and go fetch a rag and basin of cool water for his forehead."

I bristled at the nickname, but now wasn't the time to argue, so I did what I was told. As I left the room Cross started whispering spells again, and I noticed the Innocence cross in the Moyashi's left hand was glowing.

The screams had died to whimpers when I returned. I placed the damp cloth on the Moyashi's forehead, he was burning up. Not knowing what else to do, and wondering what the hell was happening, I looked to Cross.

"He was cursed." Cross spoke without looking at me, and I could hear the worry in his voice. "His Innocence is trying to fight it off, but it can only do so much."

He sighed and collapsed in the chair by the bed. "I've reversed the spell as best I can, but we won't know if it was enough until he wakes up. All we can do now is wait."

Silence fell, between the two of us anyway, the Moyashi was still moaning and whimpering in pain. I stared at the boy on the bed, my chest growing tighter as I watched him thrash. I thought about the curse that did this to him, and it made me angry. Unconsciously I tightened my grip on Mugen's hilt. "Why?"

"Hmm?" Cross was once again directing that critical stare at me, and it felt like he could read me like an open book. When he was done sizing me up, his focus returned to the boy writhing on the bed. "I can't say for sure, could be any number of reasons. Most likely it's either a case of mistaken identity, or he had the bad luck of running into a witch who simply enjoys cursing people." He smirked at me in a way that made my skin crawl. "Unless she caught him cheating at cards, I seriously doubt that this is because of something he actually did."

I growled at the implication and returned the smirk. "After what happened while he was on the run from the Order, he was forbidden from touching cards ever again." My smirk morphed into a glare when I noticed that his expression hadn't changed. I wanted to smack it off him, but since I couldn't do it physically, I settled for doing it verbally. "And even if that was the case, wouldn't it technically be your fault? Since you're the one who taught him to cheat in the first place?"

Cross returned my glare, and I almost regretted baiting him like that. "Big words for a pretty boy with girly hair."

I expected better from him. My hair was an easy target, and honestly it only bothered me when it was the Moyashi that insulted it. "Looked in a mirror lately? Your hair's pretty girly too."

I was cut off from saying more by a sudden screech from the Moyashi on the bed, and our attentions turned back to the boy. He was drenched in sweat, his hair and clothes clinging to his body, it made him look thinner and sickly. I changed the cloth on his forehead, he was even hotter now, paler than I'd ever seen him before.

When I finished, I watched in fascination as Cross showed his fatherly side and gently removed the Moyashi's clothes and tucked the still thrashing boy under the covers. I gaped at the out of character display. He caught my stare and glared at me briefly before turning his attention back to Allen. I hadn't expected him to answer my unspoken question. "He was out of it for over a month after the incident with Mana. I was the one who took care of him back then."

He didn't say anything more, and I had no reply, so we fell into silence. Then the Moyashi's screams started up again. And his body started changing. And all we could do was stand there and watch as the curse took hold of him.

The screams faded to whimpers, then even those died away. Allen lay on the bed, silent and still, only the slight rise and fall of his chest letting us know that he was still alive. The green glow of his Innocence faded and we knew it was over. The only thing left was for him to wake up and see what he had become.

It was eerily silent in the room. Cross leaned back his chair, propping his feet on the bed and lighting a cigarette. I didn't pay much attention to him, still worrying over my Moyashi. I vaguely heard him say that he was going to go after the witch when he was done here, and that Komui might be able to do something about Allen's current condition.

"As for you..." My focus snapped to him as he addressed me. His one eye narrowed as if he was reading my soul. "What exactly are your intentions towards my idiot apprentice?"

I almost, almost, jumped in surprise. But I collected myself and glared at the red head. "What are you going on about?"

Cross smirked, and I cringed inwardly. Somehow this man knew about my feelings, hell, he'd probably known since we first met back on the Ark. "There's no point in denying it, pretty boy. I know that if it was up to you, you'd fuck him into the mattress without a second thought."

He slowly and deliberately put out the cigarette and lit another, we both knew that my ability to speak was long gone. "What I don't know is this: is that as far as it goes, or do you actually have feelings for the little idiot?"

It was a lie. We both knew it was. We both knew that he knew exactly how I felt. We both knew that I was madly in love with the boy.

My glare deepened, and I managed to grind out, "He hates me, so what does it matter?"

"Idiot. Just tell him. I can guarantee that his response will be different from what you're expecting."

 _Wait does that mean that Allen likes me? No. There's no way. He hates me-_

Cross snickered as if he knew what I was thinking. "The list of people my idiot apprentice hates yet cares for consists of two people: myself and that moronic inspector that Central had following him around." He took a drag on the cigarette, and gave out a short bark-like laugh. "Hell, knowing him there's probably a few of the Noah on that list too."

"Your point?" I growled out. I did not like that this man could read me so easily.

He laughed. "My point, pretty boy, is this: I know what Allen's hatred looks like. And it's not the tit for tat insult thing that he does with you."

His one eye seemed to bore a hole in my head as I tried to process his words. I had no retort, so I simply continued to glare at him. "So?"

"So you should probably fuck him before you take him back to headquarters." I was surprised to hear concern behind those crass words. But mostly I was shocked that he seemed to condone everything I wanted to do to that boy.

"What?!"

Cross sighed and stood up, running a critical eye over the still sleeping Moyashi. "That boy's self-esteem is going to take a major hit from this. Knowing that his crush wants him might just keep him from breaking completely."

With that he was gone. The lingering smell of cigarette smoke the only proof he'd even been there in the first place.

I wondered if he was messing with me, if he wanted to get me to embarrass myself by confessing to someone who didn't love me back. But if that was the case, he would have stayed to see it. And though he had messed with me all afternoon, it was the Moyashi that he really enjoyed tormenting. That, combined with the concern I'd just witnessed, confirmed that despite appearances the General really did care about his apprentice's well-being. Which meant only one thing: he wasn't lying about the Moyashi's feelings for me.

While I was standing like an idiot in the middle of the room, the Moyashi began to stir. My eyes drifted over to the beautiful lump of white as the silver eyes flickered open.


	2. Chapter 2

My head hurt. Actually my whole body hurt. It was just that my head hurt worse. And my lower back felt like it was on fire. I tried to move, but everything hurt and it only made my headache worse. I was vaguely aware of a wet cloth on my forehead, it felt soothing and I wanted to fall back asleep. That was when the sound of someone breathing reached my ears, and I knew I wasn't alone.

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking against the light. A glimpse of a blue blur and I let out the groan I'd been holding in. It was Kanda, the love of my life and bane of my existence. I didn't want to see him, not like this, not after having passed out in the middle of the street. But he knew I was awake now, having moved closer to the bed I was in. I managed to croak out, "What happened?"

"That's what I should be asking you, Moyashi." His hands were on my shoulders, helping me sit up.

"The name's Allen, Bakanda." The retort had no bite to it, I had no energy to fight with him. Instead I took the glass of water he was offering and sipped it slowly.

My vision cleared and the pain faded, leaving only a stinging in my back and a dull headache. Kanda took the empty glass back and walked to the table across the room. His movement stirred the air in the room and I caught a familiar scent. "Why does it smell like Master's cigarettes in here?"

Kanda clicked his tongue, standing with his back to me. "Because he was here while you were unconscious, baka."

"You found him then?" I don't know if I was happy or scared.

He clicked his tongue again, still facing away from me. "More like he showed up right after you passed out."

"Oh. Where is he now?"

Another tongue click. "Gone. He went to find the witch that cursed you."

I frowned as the memory of what happened before I passed out came back to me. And suddenly I was scared of why Kanda wouldn't look at me. "What happened?"

The fear must have been evident in my voice: Kanda sighed, and it sounded sad. Without warning he tossed something at me and it landed in my lap. "It'll be easier if you see it for yourself."

I looked down at the mirror, and slowly picked it up, scared of what I would see. And at first glance my reflection remained unchanged. Like always, the first thing I noticed was the white hair and bright red scar, the marks of my other curse. But then I noticed the change and let out a very undignified squeak.

On top of my head, sticking out of my hair, was a pair of white cat ears. My breath grew ragged and my heart was pounding louder, I was scared. I reached a shaky hand up to my head, and brushed my fingertips against one of the ears. And I squeaked again.

The fur felt soft and smooth, but that wasn't what freaked me out. What freaked me out was that I could feel my fingers through the ear. They were real. I actually had cat ears. Another thought struck me then, and I moved my fingers down to the side of my head. My human ears were gone. I felt the tears coming and I whimpered, trying to hold them back.

"There's more." Kanda's hand was on mine, and before I could react to the touch, he guided my hand down to my lower back, letting go when my fingers made contact with more soft fur.

This time the tears did fall. I had a tail. And now that I was aware of it, I could feel it move. This was awful. I was already a freak, this just made it worse. Kanda would never want me now. He could barely even look at me like this.

Suddenly there was extra weight on the bed, and I found myself wrapped in a tight hug. My mind stopped as the scent of soba and soap filled my nose. Why was Kanda hugging me?

"Cross says that the curse was supposed to turn you into a cat completely. That it's because of your Innocence and the reversal spell he did that you only partially changed. He says that the only way to change you back is to find the witch. That's why he left. The only other option is to hope that Komui can find a potion that will do the same." My sobs died while he spoke. I couldn't understand why he was so close, but I wanted it, so I didn't try to fight.

When I was done crying he pulled away. But only a little. He remained close enough to wipe the trails of tears from my cheeks. My eyes locked with his deep colbalt ones. And he didn't look away. He spoke again, and it was hesitant and unsure, so very unlike Kanda. "He also said ... that I should ... tell you ... that I ... love you."

.x.x.

The Moyashi was just too adorable. Seeing him with cat ears was making it that much harder for me to resist jumping him. I had to look away. I knew it would hurt him, but me suddenly trying to take advantage of him would hurt him more.

Then the brat had to go and start crying. I was doing my best to resist the urge to get close, but then I heard him mumble something about being a freak. And I couldn't stop myself. I was next to him in a split second, sitting beside him and pulling him tightly to my chest. I related everything that Cross had told me about the curse as best I could, figuring that knowing what was going on would help him cope.

And it worked. He stopped crying. Then he looked up at me with those big silver eyes and I knew, I knew in an instant that what Cross had said about his feelings was true. Not that that made admitting mine any easier. But I managed to say it. I managed to tell my Moyashi that I loved him.

He said nothing. He just blinked at me. Then his hands fell from my shoulders and he laughed. "Of course! I'm dreaming!"

It was my turn to stare as he sat there giggling. I was a little ticked that he took my confession as a joke. I flicked his forehead and he fell back on the mattress. The giggles didn't stop. I leaned over him and growled. "Baka. What makes you think you're still asleep?"

"Because." It was hard to hear his words through the giggles. "I know that my dreams are the only place I'll ever hear you say the words I've been wanting to hear ever since I met you."

The laughter wasn't at my expense then. It was relief over everything else being a dream. I almost didn't want to spoil it, but I'd be damned if I let him squirm out of responding to my confession like that.

Placing my hands on the mattress on either side of his head, I leaned closer, until my face was mere inches from his. He was still laughing, though it was a little more sporadic. That white hair was splashed across the pillow and the cat ears twitched with every giggle. He looked absolutely delicious and I felt my pants grow tight. I glared at him with all the anger I could muster, which wasn't much as my blood was trying to rush south. "I've got news for you then, you're wide awake."

Then I closed the distance and kissed him.

.x.x.

Kanda was kissing me. The last of my laughter died in my throat. It was surreal. Like the hug. Or those words. I didn't know how to respond.

He pulled away when he noticed that I was frozen. "Shit. Don't start crying again."

I was crying? I blinked a few times, and sure enough there were tears running down my face. I looked up at him. The expression on his face was unreadable, but I could tell he was waiting for me to do something, so I voiced my confusion. "I don't understand."

He gave an exasperated sigh and flicked my forehead again. "Are you sure that you're seventeen? Because you're acting more like you're twelve."

I felt my ears and tail twitch as I hissed at the insult. Like a cat. Apparently the changes were more than just cosmetic. Kanda pushed himself back into a sitting position in response to the noise, and I whimpered and tried to curl up in a ball.

"Damn, Moyashi, I was wrong. You're not acting like a child, you're acting like a girl on her period." He sighed and reached out, touching my right ear gently. "Though I suppose that given the circumstances it should be expected."

He began stroking my ear. I don't think he was aware of the action, it seemed like a reflex to me. But it felt surprisingly good. It was comforting and relaxing. I felt myself falling asleep.

Then it suddenly stopped. I looked up at Kanda to see what happened. He was staring at me, his expression bordering on shock. "Were you just purring?"

My eyes widened in horror. I buried my face in my hands and curled up tighter. This was too much, I couldn't take it anymore. The sobs came again, and this time they didn't stop. Kanda's hand returned to my head, and he stroked my ears until I fell asleep.

.x.x.

Clearly the Moyashi's head was a little screwed up over what happened. Fuck. I didn't want to let him ignore my confession, but he obviously needed time to process the changes he was experiencing. So I let him fall asleep. Besides, a sleeping Moyashi was infinitely preferable to the crying, hormonal one I'd been trying to deal with.

I was at the end of my patience with him. Honestly I was surprised I lasted that long. Though I suppose that could be chalked up to the worry that came from loving the little brat. He would be facing my usual way of dealing with him when he awoke, whether or not he was back to normal emotionally. I couldn't coddle him anymore.

Grabbing Mugen, I stalked out of the room, intending to find somewhere to train and blow off steam. I was halfway down the hall when I realized that I couldn't leave the Moyashi alone like that. Especially when I didn't know where Cross was. I couldn't let that bastard be the first person Allen saw when he woke up. I returned to the room swiftly. Guess I'd have to settle for meditation.

.x.x.

It was an hour later when the Moyashi woke up. Though the rumbling of his stomach started a good ten minutes before that. Knowing he wouldn't want to leave the room, and having ulterior motives, I had the finder stationed in the next room go fetch some dinner.

Sure enough, the first thing the brat did upon waking was eye the tray of sandwiches on the table. He sat up excitedly, but then his expression darkened and he tried to curl back up.

"Oh no you don't." I grabbed his shoulder roughly and pulled him out of bed. "I've been listening to your stomach try to eat itself for the past ten minutes. You can cry like a girl all you want later, but right now you need food."

I pushed him down in the chair and shoved the tray towards him. His face was bright red as he looked up at me. "Um, Kanda? Why am I naked?"

"Fuck!" I had forgotten Cross had done that. I turned around immediately and began looking for the brat's clothes. "Because your master is a bastard. That's why."

Not seeing the clothing in question, I went to his suitcase and grabbed fresh ones, tossing the pieces at the brat's head. "Hey!"

I smirked at him, and his angry smile faltered. "Aren't you going to leave so I can change?" He asked expectantly.

"Nope." I crossed my arms across my chest. "If I leave you alone you'll just curl back up in bed. Besides, Moyashi, I don't get what all this false modesty is about. We've got _community baths._ I've seen you naked hundreds of times." _And enjoyed every single one of them._ But he wasn't ready to hear that last bit just yet.

He grumbled as he pulled on his boxers. I sat back to enjoy the show. However he suddenly froze when they were mostly up. The realization hit us both at the same time: his tail. That beautiful white appendage was going to prevent his clothes from fitting properly. Acting swiftly, I snatched the knife from the table and grabbed the Moyashi by his hips. "Don't move." The warning wasn't necessary, he had frozen under my touch. I knelt down behind him, and used the knife to make a hole in his boxers. It was rather crude, but it would do for now. Without asking for permission, I grabbed his tail and slid it through the hole, then yanked his boxers the rest of the way up.

He hadn't moved. Looking up, I could see that he was still frozen in shock over what just happened. I rolled my eyes, apparently the brat was still an emotional wreck. I draped his shirt over his head. "Put your shirt on. I'll fix your pants."

"Why are you being nice?" He asked as he buttoned his shirt. "Shouldn't you be laughing your head off at me?"

I handed him his pants. "First: I don't laugh out loud." I paused, that wasn't quite right. "Unless the Baka Usagi were to fall down the stairs or something, and even then it would probably only be a short chuckle."

I watched in fascination as the Moyashi slid his tail through the hole in his pants without touching it. The second his pants were on I pushed him onto the chair and shoved a sandwich in his mouth. "Second: do you remember what happened earlier?"

He stopped eating and looked at me curiously, obviously thinking hard. I growled at him. "Eat. Or are you too stupid to eat and think at the same time?"

"Bakanda." He grumbled but obeyed, and once again began shoving food in his mouth.

The last sandwich was halfway to his mouth when it suddenly clicked. "W-Wait. You- You actually meant that?"

"Baka." I leaned in and kissed him again. And this time he kissed me back.


	3. Chapter 3

_"Baka." I leaned in and kissed him again. And this time he kissed me back._

The kiss was rough and I could tell he wanted it just as much as I did. Though it didn't take a genius to figure that one out. He was the one who shoved his tongue in my mouth. I was not going to let a bean sprout get the best of me, and fought back.

He did get the best of me though. His tongue was a distraction from his hands, which I failed to notice were in my hair until he pulled out my hair tie. "You little-"

He cut me off with a short laugh, and then we were kissing again. His hands tangled in my hair, and his tail wrapped around my leg.

 _Well two can play at that game_. My hands found their way to his hair, but they didn't stay there. They went to his ears, those wonderful cat ears that made him even more attractive than usual. I stroked the soft fur, and smirked internally as he started purring. The sound was captivating, I felt like I could listen to it forever.

The Moyashi broke the kiss the second he realized what was happening, backing away with tears in his eyes. I growled and grabbed his wrists. He tried to pull away, but I wasn't about to let go. "Don't. Don't cry. I can't take any more of that."

His tears didn't stop, but he did get angry. It was a relief, an angry Moyashi was one I knew how to deal with. "And what else am I supposed to do, Bakanda? I've been turned into a fucking cat! Just when my life was back together! Just when the Order started to trust me again! And now it's all over! Because some woman decided to turn me into a fucking cat! No one is going to want to be around me!"

"Allen!" He froze when I used his name, just like I expected him to. "No one is going to care! Fuck, Lenalee and that Usagi will probably be all over you even more than they already are! You're so fucking adorable like this that I'm not going to be able to get any alone time with you!"

He giggled. Once. I had gotten more than my fill of his giggles earlier, and kept shouting so I wouldn't have to hear any more. "We don't know that this is permanent! Cross is out tracking down the witch, and you and I are going back to headquarters first thing in the morning to see Komui about this! He may be psychotic, but he _is_ a genius when it comes to strange things like this! He might be able to do something!"

He started whimpering again. "What now?" I snapped.

"That hurt my ears." He smiled sheepishly. "Apparently my hearing is a lot more sensitive than it used to be."

"Baka." I pulled him close. It felt good to stand there with our chests pressed together like that. After so long I finally had him in my arms, and I didn't want to let him go. But there was still something I needed to hear him say. "Does it really matter what everyone else thinks? I don't care that you're different. Isn't that enough?"

He giggled again, that sound was really starting to get on my nerves. "Actually, you said that I'm adorable. Yuu~ "

I glared down at him. I didn't know how to respond to him saying my first name like that, but even the part of me that hated my name had to admit that it sounded good when the Moyashi said it.

"And it's more than enough that you don't care, Yuu~. Or rather, it's more than enough that you _do_ care." He buried his head in my neck. "I've loved you for such a long time. And we've been through so much. It just feels so good to finally have you. Even if you were a total prick in the beginning."

"Oi! You weren't all that perfect in the beginning either, you know." He looked up at me, those big silver eyes full of confusion. I kissed him gently, or rather, as gently as I was capable of, I would never be able to be truly gentle. "I much prefer this version of you." I smirked. "The you that swore three times in the last two minutes is far more interesting than the you that was overly polite to everyone."

Before he could argue I kissed him again, this one more like our first. Our tongues battled for dominance while his fingers played with my hair and I undid the buttons on his shirt. I yanked the garment off of him when we broke apart for air.

"Hey!" I smirked at the protest and began kissing his collarbone. "What was the point of getting dressed if you were just going to undress me so soon?"

I hooked my fingers into the belt loops of his pants, and whispered in his ear. "You were the one who didn't want me to see you naked."

"Ri- nnnghh!" His retort was cut off by the moan he made when I bit down on his shoulder. His fingers suddenly released my hair and flew to my chest, where he had my exorcist jacket open in the blink of an eye. I shrugged the coat off, but he wasn't satisfied. His fingers slid under my shirt and impatiently tugged it upwards. I broke away from marking him to pull the shirt over my head and toss it aside.

We stood there panting and simply staring at each other. His bright silver eyes had become a deep mercury. It was a look that I recognized from all of our fights, but only now was I realizing that it was lust, and not hatred, that was making them that way. His lips were parted for air, and from the expression on his face I almost expected him to start drooling. The ears atop his head twitched with each breath he took, and his tail swayed behind him, occasionally brushing against my calf. I don't know why, but the touch felt so ... erotic. My eyes drifted to his chest, taking in the scars that marred his pale skin as my gaze moved lower. I smirked, his pants looked as tight as mine felt. Good, he wouldn't object to what I was planni-

Clearly I wasn't paying enough attention to him. His hands were suddenly on my shoulders, and before I know what happened, my back hit the floor, hard, a loud crash accompanying me as I fell. The breath knocked out of me, I gasped for air, only to find breathing hard due to the weight of a Moyashi on top of me. Our legs were tangled together, along with the legs of the chair that he had apparently pushed us into.

He tried to push himself off me, but I stopped him, grabbing his hair rather roughly and pulling him into an equally rough kiss. Our bare chests pressed together was a thrilling sensation, and I couldn't resist thrusting my hips upward and grinding our clothed erections together.

The Moyashi made a sound that was somewhere between a moan and a meow. I could feel the embarrassment flowing off of him, but I didn't let him pull away. Instead I ground our hips together once more and made him repeat the sound again. This time he responded by deepening the kiss, and God that boy was good with his tongue.

My moan was drowned out by a loud knock at the door. "I heard a crash. Is everything alright in there?" It was that idiot finder. He didn't respond to all the screaming the Moyashi did earlier, but the chair falling he heard. I was going to kill him.

I broke away from the Moyashi to respond, but the moronic finder had already opened the door. I was seriously going to murder him. "Out!" I gave him my best death glare. But then the Moyashi was pulling me back to him, and our lips were crashing together once again. The sound of the door closing in a hurry signified that the finder had gone.

As the Moyashi and I kissed I thought about what the finder saw: me, Kanda Yuu, shirtless, pinned to the ground by one Allen Walker, also shirtless, with cat ears and a tail, legs tangled together and making out. It put me in a rather bad light. Never mind that homosexuality was supposed to be a bad thing. Never mind that he probably assumed the cat ears were fake and part of some weird fetish. Never mind that he saw _my_ Moyashi without his shirt, though he would definitely have to pay for that. No, what really bothered me was that he saw the Moyashi _on top._ I was going to _annihilate_ him.

"You can kill the finder later, Bakanda." I blinked as the Moyashi whispered in my ear. "But right now I need you here." He thrust his hips into mine and let out another moan.

I captured his lips and kicked the chair out of my way rather violently, losing my boots in the process. When my legs were free, I broke away, standing up and pulling the Moyashi along with me. I pushed him towards the bed, not caring that I missed and he ended up sprawled half on and half off of it. He righted himself as I stalked quickly to the door and locked it.

I returned to the bed to find him sitting on the edge in only his boxers, which did very little to conceal his arousal. His ears perked up expectantly as he smirked at me. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Impatient are we, Moyashi?"

He hopped up and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Very." He whispered huskily in my ear. "I've been patient for two years. I don't want to wait any longer."

As if to prove his point, he pulled my pants and boxers down. Then he began rubbing his tail up and down my naked thigh. I glared at him, but it wasn't very fierce because I was moaning. He smirked. "I think I could get used to having a tail if it does that to you, Yuu~."

That singsongy way he said my name made me want to smack him upside the head. I knew he was trying to goad me into saying his, and I was not going to give into that quite so easily.

I returned his smirk and pushed him over onto the bed. He yelped as I yanked off his boxers. Now we were both naked. It wasn't until I climbed up on the bed with him that I noticed it wasn't a good yelp. He was lying on his back underneath me, hands fisted in the sheets, looking away from me with his eyes squeezed shut. I sighed. "Are you still on that not wanting me to see you naked thing?"

"No..." He said stubbornly, then sighed. "Yes... Maybe? I don't know." Another sigh and then he started babbling. "It's not that I don't want _you_ to see me naked, Yuu. It's more like I'm not comfortable with being naked around other people. I would always catch someone staring at me in the baths, and it really creeped me out. So I started bathing at strange times when I knew no one else would be around. The staring stopped, but even then it almost always feels like someone's watching me. It's just so unnerving!"

Apparently I wasn't as stealthy as I thought with my Moyashi watching. I leaned in and kissed the mark that I had made on his shoulder. "I didn't know you felt like that." I worded it so that it sounded vaguely like an apology, trying to get the Moyashi to look at me. I wanted to see his face when I told him. And it worked. His eyes snapped open immediately, and he turned to face me. I snickered. "But it's definitely not my fault that you chose _my_ shower time as _your_ private time."

The look of shock on his face was priceless. But I only got to enjoy it for a few seconds before it morphed into one of anger and the Moyashi punched me in the stomach. "That was you? Bastard."

I smirked down at him. He hadn't hit me very hard, which meant that he wasn't as angry as he pretended to be. "Of course. I love seeing you naked. You're so delicious..."

I bit a different spot on his collarbone, making him moan and forget about his anger. Then I proceed to do the things I had wanted to do to him ever since I started watching him. I kissed his scars. Covered him in hickeys. Sucked on his nipples. And basically just turned him into a writhing, moaning mess.

He played with my hair for a while, then his hands began to roam my body. But when his finger nails started clawing at my back, I had to stop him. I pulled his hands away and pinned his arms above his head.

And that's when I froze. I didn't know what to do next. I only had a vague idea of how sex between two men worked. All I knew came from a few overheard conversations that I was too shy and too proud to fully listen to. And I knew enough about anatomy to know that I couldn't just take him, not without causing extreme pain.

"Don't know what comes next, Bakanda?" Despite how out of breath he was, I could hear the smirk in his voice, it dripped with smugness.

"Oh and you do?" I shot back. He laughed in response, as if it was obvious that he did. I glared at him. "How?"

He blinked innocently up at me, and waited for me to piece it together. "General Cross." I practically spat the name. Yes it was definitely that bastard's fault that the Moyashi knew so much about sex.

When my attention turned back to the Moyashi he was grinning devilishly. It sent a shiver down my spine. "So," the sweetness in his voice was at odds with his expression, "you have only one option for continuing this..."

"Fuck no, I am _not_ letting you top me."

He laughed again. "Then you'd be choosing to not fuck at all."

I glared down at the smirking boy, he looked very much like a cat right then. And he was so very smug. Like he knew he would get his way. "You could just tell me what to do." I growled.

More laughter, it was bordering on evil now. "Not a chance." His voice was singsongy. "I wanna know if your love for me is stronger than your pride, Yuu~"

 _Which did I want more: sex with my Moyashi, or to keep my pride intact?_

While I was arguing with myself, his tail began brushing against my thigh, causing me to moan at the touch. The Moyashi's grin practically split his face, victory was his.

"Fine." I managed to grind out, and I released my grip on his arms. My throbbing erection certainly wanted the sex. _And it's not like anyone will ever find out, the Moyashi certainly isn't going to go around telling people that he topped me. I just have to pay attention to what he does so that I know for next time._

He slithered out from under me, and pushed me down so the top half of my chest was pressed against the mattress. I wanted to question him, but then he was kissing the back of my neck, and I lost the power of speech. His mouth worked its way down my spine at an agonizingly slow speed as he moved towards my lower end, and all I could do was try not to moan under his touch. I would let him top, but that didn't mean that I had to let him know that I enjoyed it.

He forced my knees further apart as he knelt between them. Then he licked my entrance and I almost cried out.

.x.x.

Allen smirked at Kanda's feeble attempts to not make noise. He was failing miserably, especially with Allen's now enhanced hearing, but the white haired boy wasn't about to tell him that. No, he was enjoying it far too much.

He wanted to take in the sight of the blue haired boy beneath him, but it felt like a fluke that the samurai had even agreed to this in the first place. Worried that the unpredictable man would suddenly change his mind, Allen went straight to work.

Pulling away slightly, he shoved three of his human fingers inside of his mouth and coated them thoroughly with saliva.

Kanda meanwhile, was distracted by Allen's tail. The furry appendage was stroking his thigh, an action that only fueled his need and made it harder to control his moans. It may have seemed like an involuntary action, but he knew the white haired cat-boy was doing it on purpose.

A wet finger circling his entrance made Kanda forget about the tail. Those few circles were his only warning before Allen shoved the first of his fingers inside of Kanda.

Kanda's world became a mixture of pleasure and pain. He was used to pain, he was a fighter after all, and knowing his body could heal any wound had made him unafraid of getting hurt. But this was something else entirely. Allen's finger moving around inside of him didn't just hurt, it felt good too.

He tried to keep control of his senses, he wanted to stay aware of what that boy was doing to him, but the feeling was just too much. Especially once Allen added a second finger and began stretching him.

Allen's only regret was that he couldn't see Kanda's face. The stifled moans and grunts the man was making were music to his ears, and he wished he could see the facial expressions that went with them. He wanted to see that constantly scowling face light up with pleasure.

But he was the one in control. And he had chosen to put the samurai in that position. On purpose. He knew that he needed to _stay_ in control, and that meant that he couldn't see Kanda's face. Those cobalt eyes killed his focus, and right now he needed all the focus he could muster. Especially when most of his blood was flowing away from his brain. Kanda's earlier ministrations had made him beyond hard, and he'd never gone so long without touching himself before.

So Allen focused everything he had on the fingers inside of Kanda. He thrust and scissored as urgently as he could without hurting the samurai. Though to be honest, his sadistic side wanted to hurt him, but however good that would feel now, it wouldn't be worth it in the long run.

Everything changed for Kanda when Allen's third finger was added. He found himself wanting more and began unconsciously thrusting his hips trying to increase the feeling. Then the nimble digits brushed against a spot that made his vision blur. Pleasure coursed through his veins and the heat coiling inside him grew. He wasn't going to last much longer. Summoning what was left of his voice he ground out, "Damn, Moyashi, hurry up."

Kanda's voice was even rougher than usual and so filled with lust that Allen almost lost control when he heard it. Instead he grit his teeth and brushed his fingers against that spot one more time. As the samurai gave a half strangled cry, Allen swiftly pulled his fingers out of him. He didn't know if Kanda was properly stretched, but he couldn't wait any longer. He lined his member up with Kanda's entrance and pushed inside.

There was no pleasure this time. All Kanda felt was the pain. And it was his own fault. He hadn't thought that that bean sprout of a boy would be big enough to hurt him. All he felt was the pain because he had underestimated that brat, just like he'd been doing since the day they met.

Then the pain started to fade and the pleasure returned. He let out the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. Allen's strained voice snapped him back to awareness. "Does that mean you're ready for me to continue?"

Kanda tried to answer, but couldn't manage anything more than a grunt. Allen took that as a yes, and pulled slowly out of the samurai, before thrusting back in. The tight heat almost too much for his nearly unbearable need.

The more Allen moved, the more pleasure Kanda felt. And then the pain was gone and he felt his hips moving to Allen's thrusts. They moved together, achieving a harmony they usually only found on the battlefield. Then Allen's member hit Kanda's prostate.

The samurai couldn't help it, his control was gone, and he cried out. But what neither boy expected was for him to cry out the other's real name. "A-Aren!"

He knew he was close, hell after that outburst, he knew they were both close. For Kanda to say his name like that he had to be barely holding on. Allen thrust harder, battering the samurai's prostate. His right hand firmly grasped the man's hip, and his left moved down to stroke the thus far ignored erection.

Something hard yet soft grasped his member. The feeling was so surreal that it actually caught his attention amid the pleasure that had overtaken him. The hand shaped thing began to pump his shaft, but it felt so different from a real hand. Yet somehow the pleasure it gave was exponentially better than any he could give himself. As he lost himself again he finally figured out what it was, Allen's Innocence hand.

Kanda came without warning, spilling his seed over Allen's hand and the bedsheets underneath him. His walls tightened unexpectedly around Allen, and the cat-boy came immediately as his member was squeezed.

Both boys were locked in the euphoric high of orgasm, unaware as their legs gave out and they collapsed in a heap on the bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Kanda was the first to recover from the high. He shoved Allen off of him and sat up on the edge of the bed. His regeneration abilities had slowed dramatically since the incident with Alma, making him more like a normal person, and as such he was in pain. Not a lot of pain, it was just a dull ache in his lower back, but it seemed worse because his tolerance was still low. And the feel of Allen's semen flowing out of him didn't help with his discomfort.

The sun had set while they were having sex. Kanda was torn between laying back down and taking a shower. At the very least he needed his pants. But even with the streetlights shining through the curtains, it was too dark to see them. He looked around for a lamp, and his gaze landed on Allen, who was now sitting up on the bed, smirking at him like he'd been watching the whole time.

The smirk was the best Allen could muster. He felt like grinning from ear to ear after what happened, but things changed when he opened his eyes. He'd always been able to see well in the dark because of his time with Cross, but this went beyond that. He knew that it was dark, but he could still see everything in the room. Especially Kanda as he struggled to move. It was amusing, but the newfound night vision was a reminder that he was now part cat, and his post-orgasm euphoria was fading rapidly.

"Am I amusing you, Moyashi?"

"My name's Allen, or did you somehow manage to forget that in the last two minutes?" He snapped back, after everything earlier he did not want Kanda to know that he was growing depressed again.

Kanda clicked his tongue. Something was wrong with the brat. He expected the boy to be hyper. Or smug. The boy should be rubbing what just happened in his face. He should be teasing him for letting him top. Instead he was defensive, like he'd done something wrong. He narrowed his eyes at the brat. Allen's ears were pinned back against his head. "What's wrong with yo- oh."

He figured it out before he was done asking. But then it wasn't hard to miss. Allen's eyes were practically glowing. And they looked very much like a cat's. Unlike the ears and tail, which Kanda had found adorable, this was slightly off putting, but that didn't matter to him. What mattered was that the Moyashi was not going to take this new development well.

Allen squeezed his eyes shut and turned away from Kanda's stare. And was promptly flicked in the forehead for the third time that day. "Baka. Look at me."

"No." Allen didn't move. He couldn't move. If he looked at Kanda he'd see those cobalt eyes staring back at him, those eyes he couldn't hide his feelings from, and the tears he was currently repressing would escape. And Allen was not going to cry over this anymore.

Kanda clicked his tongue and flicked the brat's forehead again. He got no reaction so he pushed himself off the bed as quickly as his sore back would allow. "Fine, be that way."

There were a few thuds from Kanda bumping into furniture as he gathered his clothes and left to take a shower. But Allen didn't know that that's where he had gone. He just knew that Kanda was gone. The tears he'd been holding back threatened to fall. His inability to face the changes to his body had scared off his lover. And it had to happen right after sex too. Everything had been so perfect just minutes earlier, and now... Well, now Kanda was gone. And he probably wasn't coming back. Of course if Allen had been thinking straight he would have known that Kanda was simply giving him the space he needed, but his emotions were on overload after the reminder that he was now part cat. But he did know one thing: if he didn't get a grip on himself he would lose Kanda for good.

.x.x.

When I returned to the room the Moyashi was lying down on the bed, still naked, but the soiled top sheet had at least been removed. The light was on, and from the way the boy's ears perked up at the sound of the door he was clearly awake. "Are you feeling better now, or do I need to leave again?" I asked from the doorway.

He sat up and faced me, but the action seemed forced. "Don't go." His words were quiet, he'd been crying again. "I'm still a mess, but please don't leave. I can't-"

A half strangled sob cut off his words. I rolled my eyes. "If you want me to stay, I'll stay. Just... I can't take any more crying, so try to keep it down, ok?"

He giggled in relief as I made my way to the bed. I winced internally at the sound. It was still irritating. "And no giggling. That's worse than the crying."

He huffed and shot me a mock glare. "Any more rules I need to follow?"

I smirked. "I can probably think of a few..." That got a smile out of the boy, but it faded instantly when I tacked on, "Moyashi."

He narrowed his eyes at me and mumbled something that sounded a lot like "bastard". Apparently he was feeling well enough to argue. I sat on the edge of the bed and ruffled his hair, succeeding at making him purr.

He shoved me away immediately. "Knock that off, Bakanda."

I didn't. I enjoyed the sound too much. I also enjoyed that the Moyashi didn't like it. He shoved me away again. "Gah! Why are you such a bastard?! Shouldn't getting laid have made you a nicer person?!"

The exasperated look on his face was priceless, and I couldn't help laughing at it.

I was cut off by the Moyashi's lips pressing against mine. It was a brief kiss, but it was good. "I guess you have changed a little, Yuu~. You have a wonderful laugh."

He looked beautiful, and I'm not sure why, but I was feeling really good, probably from the sex, and I leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Only for you, Allen."

He kissed me as soon as I got the word out. This kiss was deep and intense, and we were breathing heavily by the time we broke apart. If that's how he always reacts to me using his real name, I would definitely be doing it again- but only sometimes, it would lose its power if I used it all the time.

I attacked his hair again, and this time he didn't fight back. He leaned against me and purred into my chest, wrapping his arms around my waist. I could tell that he was still unhappy with the fact that he was purring, but he wasn't fighting it anymore. I wasn't one for displays of affection, but for the first time in a long time I felt truly happy, so I let him hug me.

The embrace didn't last long. It ended rather quickly when the Moyashi's hands slid under my shirt and began to rub my sore back. The action alone wasn't much, but the tone of his purring changed, revealing that he had devious intentions. Stopping my petting, I forcibly tilted his head up so that our eyes met. I was greeted with the smug smirk I'd been expecting earlier. Allen was ready to tease me for letting him top. I pushed him away from me. "Say what you want to say so we can get this over with, Moyashi."

"It's no fun if you play along, Yuu~." He fake pouted, then stuck his tongue out at me. "And all I was going to say was that you made some wonderful noises when you were under me. I'd love to hear you make them again sometime, Yuu~."

"Hell no." It was a gut reaction from my pride, but there was definitely a part of me that wanted to let Allen top me again. Not that I was ever going to tell him that.

He laughed. "I figured as much. I'm surprised you even agreed to it in the first place."

"Heat of the moment, Moyashi. That's all. Don't read anything into it." I glared at him, but his hands had returned to my back and the touch was arousing.

He snickered as he slid his hands into my pants. "How am I supposed to do that, Yuu~? I asked you to choose between me and your pride, and you chose me. You chose your love for me."

"Che. Baka." His wandering fingers found my abused entrance and I winced at the touch. "What do you think you're doing?"

He smirked at me. "At the moment I'm enjoying seeing you in pain, Yuu~."

.x.x.

Kanda finally snapped.

As much as I had enjoyed topping him, and as much as I wanted to do it again, it felt backwards. And part of me wondered if maybe that's why I was still so uncomfortable with my ... changes.

There was really only one way to find out, so I started baiting him. It wasn't too hard, I had plenty of practice at getting on his nerves after all. Especially with the knowledge that hearing me say his first name aroused him. Not that I was any different on that front. Kanda had my blood boiling with just one whisper.

I knew he was ready to jump me, so I not so subtly reminded him that he had been submissive to me. And that was it. He had my hands pinned above my head and my back pressed into the mattress in seconds. The kiss he started was rough and bruising, but it was what I wanted from him; those earlier kisses when he was trying to be gentle were nice, but they just weren't Kanda. This, where he was kissing me so hard I thought I might pass out from a lack of air, this was right.

.x.x.

Kanda didn't need an explanation, or conversation, or even permission. He could see the satisfied smirk on Allen's face and the cat-boy's growing erection. He didn't need words to know that the white haired boy was ready for another round.

The foreplay was much shorter this time, and it wasn't long before Kanda was grinding their naked members together. He wanted to make Allen beg, but what he got was close enough. The white haired boy growled impatiently, then he grabbed Kanda's hand and shoved the fingers into his mouth, licking every surface and slicking them up well.

When he was finished Kanda wasted no time in tossing the cat-boy's legs over his shoulders, lifting Allen's hips off the mattress so that his tail no longer blocked his entrance. Then Kanda shoved one of his long, skinny fingers into the exposed hole.

Allen cried out when Kanda's finger penetrated him. The subsequent thrusts and wiggles had him moaning. His cry for more was answered with a second finger being shoved roughly beside the first. He could feel the samurai's impatience in the haphazard way the fingers stretched his passage. It hurt, badly, yet it felt so good.

A third finger, then more rough scissoring, which led to a stray finger brushing against a spot that had Allen writhing in ecstasy. Kanda wanted to enjoy it, but his ignored erection couldn't wait any longer. He withdrew his fingers, rewarded with a delicious whimper from the boy.

Allen tried not to scream at the pain of Kanda's length pushing into his clumsily stretched hole. It felt like he was going to rip apart. Then the motion stopped, and the pain began to fade. When he was ready he managed to spit out, "Move, Bakanda."

At the cat-boy's bidding, Kanda pulled almost all the way out then thrust back in. He knew his actions had been a poor imitation of Allen's, but he didn't particularly care if he was rough with the brat, especially when he knew that Allen would tell him if he took it too far.

Kanda's thrusts found a rhythm with the motion of Allen's hips. They moved together, until Kanda hit Allen's prostate. The cat-boy cried out as he saw stars. A few more hard thrusts to the spot, and Allen came. The spasming muscles around his member pushed Kanda to the edge, and after one more shaky thrust, he released inside Allen.

Allen's legs fell from Kanda's shoulders, and he blinked up at the older man. There was something he wanted to say, but the exhaustion was setting in, and he was asleep before he got the words out.

.x.x.

Despite my annoyance that the brat passed out immediately, I couldn't help but appreciate how wonderful he looked in that moment. His hair was tangled and strewn about, and his skin glowed with a faint sheen of sweat.

I surveyed the mess we'd just made and decided it wasn't worth cleaning up. Not when there was another bed in the room. The Moyashi was easy enough to carry, so I moved him to the other bed and climbed in beside him. The brat was finally mine. I was never going to let him go.


	5. Chapter 5

I was surprisingly warm and comfortable when I woke up that morning. It felt so good that I could easily ignore the ache in my lower back. I didn't want to get up. Yet as my senses came into focus, I began to panic: they were much sharper than I was used to. I took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on what I was sensing. Maybe knowing exactly how they had changed would help me adjust.

The first thing I noticed was the smell of Kanda's shampoo. He was nearby. That subtle floral scent was everywhere, covering, but not hiding the smell of the room, which, after several days of sleeping in it, smelled of Kanda and myself. Yet I could pick out details, like the scent of the soap used to wash the sheets of the bed I was in. I could even make out traces of what we had done the night before. The scent of Master's cigarettes also lingered, though it was faint.

The room was quiet, but as I listened to what was around me things got loud really quickly. Once again the first thing I noticed was Kanda. The sound of his breathing was closer than I expected it to be, but I didn't dare open my eyes and find out exactly where he was. He was close enough for me to hear his heartbeat, its gentle rhythm indicating that he was still asleep. However, as I listened to his heartbeat, I noticed that I could hear my own as well. And that was freaky, so I focused on something else. The lack of noise from the street outside told me it was still early- too early for the tourists to be out, though some of the locals had begun their daily routines.

My tail - oh dear God I really have a tail - was wrapped around my left leg. I had avoided looking at it, only seeing enough to know that it was white like my hair and ears. I didn't want to know what it looked like. Yet somehow I knew that it was long, just a few inches short of touching the ground when I stood. It was weird to have and be aware of another appendage. I didn't like it. Even if it was incredibly useful on Kanda.

To change my train of thought, I let my eyes drift open. All I could see was navy blue. Kanda was close enough that his hair was in my face. I tried to turn my body, to get a better look at the room, but couldn't move. That's when I realized exactly how close Kanda was: the warmth I felt was him. His chest was pressed against my back and his arms were wrapped around my waist. I tried to pull away, but his hold was strong. I wouldn't be able to move away without waking him up.

So I settled for moving his hair out of my face. I blinked at what I saw. I was confused. We were in Kanda's bed. But we had had sex in mine. And I was pretty sure that I had passed out as soon as we had finished. Kanda must have moved me. And cleaned me up- I was wearing my boxers. I expected him to have left me in the messy bed. Waking up in his bed with his arms around me was just plain weird. I still thought of him like yesterday hadn't happened, his confession of love still seemed like a dream. And it was safest to think that way; my heart was safer if I accepted that he never truly loved me, that he just said those things to get in my pants.

I felt him stir, his heartbeat and breathing began to change: he was waking up. I expected him to push me away when he realized we were cuddling. He pulled me closer. It freaked me out, so I tried to pull away from him. "What do think you're doing, Moyashi? You're mine now. You're not getting away."

He was still half-asleep. I could hear it in his voice. What he said was scary, yet somehow reassuring. I knew he meant that, and I knew he wasn't just talking about the cuddling. He thought of me as his possession. "And what if I want to leave, Bakanda?"

"Then you shouldn't have told me you love me." He laughed briefly, then kissed the back of my neck. He was fully awake now.

His lips sent sparks down my spine, and I immediately lost my train of thought. One of his hands left my waist, but the pleasure coursing through me distracted me from my chance to escape. In some corner of my mind I knew exactly what he was doing, knew that he was doing something I didn't want him to do. But his fingers were already tangled in my hair. It felt so good, but they didn't stop there. They kept moving until they were caressing my ear. His calloused fingers felt spectacular against the soft spot where my ears met my head. I wanted him to continue, but more than anything, I wanted him to STOP. IMMEDIATELY.

But I knew he wouldn't. And his lips on my neck were preventing me from escaping. I couldn't stop him. And even worse, I couldn't stop the reflex he was triggering. I could already feel it in my chest. The growing rumbling.

Kanda's kisses stopped the moment the purring started. I could feel him smirk into the back of my neck. He knew I hated the purring, the reminder that I was part cat, the reminder that my life had once again gone horribly awry.

But as much as I hated it, I loved the feeling. I loved his fingers playing with my ears. I only wanted him to stop so that the purring would stop. Yet some part of me knew that if I did make him stop he'd just find another, more embarrassing spot to pet and trigger the purring. So I didn't fight it as we lay in bed that morning.

"You're awfully quiet, Moyashi." Kanda's breath tickled the back of my neck, and I had to suppress the urge to giggle.

I rolled over and glared at him, pulling his hand from my head. "I thought I was being plenty noisy."

"That's not what I was talking about." He smirked at me and tried to pet me again, but I had his wrist in my Innocence hand and he couldn't break my grip. I gave him an innocent smile as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"You actually want me to talk? Aren't you the one who tells me to shut up because I talk too much?"

"Yes, but given the circumstances..." He sighed and gave me a small smile. "You shouldn't hold things in, Moyashi."

I rolled my eyes at him. "What do you want me to say? That I'm not ok? You already know that." I felt my ears twitch as I started to get angry, and the fur on my tail bristled. The sensations were so alien, and they only served to fuel my anger. "Fuck! The sooner we get to Komui and get this fixed the better. I can't stand being like this. But you already know that too."

"Yes, but don't you feel better having said it out loud?" He smirked, and it made me want to smack him. I growled at him and pushed him off the bed.

Or I tried. He still had an arm wrapped firmly around my waist. So I went over the edge with him. And for the second time that trip, Kanda and I ended up on the floor, tangled together.

Only this time it wasn't in the middle of making out. And this time it hurt. Bad. I screamed.

.x.x.

I was just messing around. No, actually, if I'm being honest, I was trying to get the Moyashi to stop overthinking things so that we could have sex again. That's why I pulled him off the bed with me.

Only things went wrong when we landed really hard. It knocked the wind out of me, but that was nothing compared to the pained screech the Moyashi let out.

In my slightly dazed state it took a moment to figure out what happened. But once it clicked, I scrambled away immediately. We had landed on his tail.

The screeching died to a whimper once my weight was no longer crushing his tail. I knew from experience exactly how well Allen could handle pain. This must hurt like hell for him to be crying over it. No, that wasn't it. It was more like the first time I had a hangover. He had no frame of reference for the pain he was feeling, and that made it seem worse. It probably didn't help that his head was still screwed up over the whole thing.

I didn't know what to do. I wanted to console him, but I didn't know how. Or have the patience for that. I had used up all of that yesterday.

So I did nothing. I just sat there and waited for him to stop crying.

.x.x.

Fuck that hurt. Not the worst pain I'd ever experienced, I'd been stabbed too many times for that to be true, but it was still worse than I could have ever imagined. I now officially hated that tail. The pain faded quickly once Kanda was no longer sitting on it and pulling it at a weird angle, but that brought a whole slew of other problems. The tears I thought had dried up started falling once more, and I couldn't stop them.

I don't know where they came from. I was well aware that my situation wasn't hopeless. I wasn't even that upset over what happened anymore. Fuck, last night was one of the best nights of my life. The man I loved loved me back. And I probably wouldn't know that if it weren't for what had happened.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. Lying on the cold floor was not helping anything. I pushed myself into a sitting position. Kanda was sitting just out of arm's reach, staring at me. He looked... worried. As much as I liked knowing he was concerned about me, the look was very wrong on his usually scowling face.

"Sorry, you said no more crying." I forced a smile, trying to make a joke.

"Don't." Kanda's voice was harsh. "Don't try to push things away. You're clearly not alright."

"We've already established that." I sighed and stood up. "But I can't keep dwelling on this. I need to move on. So let's just go back home, ok?"

"I have one question first." His usual stoic expression was back, but the worry hadn't left his eyes or his voice.

"And what would that be?" I held my hand out toward Kanda, and when he took it I helped him to his feet.

He wrapped me in a hug, his right hand drifting down my back to rub the base of my tail. "Is your tail ok?"

My tail swished behind me as he rubbed the sore spot on my back. Not just sore from the fall, but from last night's activities as well. My body was reacting to the touch in the same way it did to him petting my ears. I pushed him away before I could start purring. "It's just fine, Yuu. A little sore, but fine."

Just then I caught the aroma of food nearby. Though with my heightened senses, 'nearby' was probably more than a few rooms down the hall. But it was still strong enough to make my stomach rumble.

Kanda opened his mouth to speak, but a knock at the door interrupted him. "Kanda-dono? Walker-dono?"

"What?!" One look at Kanda and it was obvious that he still wanted to kill that finder.

"Umm. I took the liberty of ordering breakfast for you. It should be here in about ten minutes." The finder sounded scared, I wondered if he realized that he saw something he shouldn't have. "I, umm, I wanted to make sure you knew so, umm, so you'd be ... awake and... dressed..."

I heard the finder start to walk away, muttering to himself. Curious, I focused and tried to hear what he was saying. What I caught was '-And not make anyone else witness things that will keep them up at night.'

I almost laughed at how traumatized he sounded, but I was distracted by the curious stare Kanda was giving me. "You can still hear him."

It was a statement, not a question. But I answered it anyway. "Yes. I can hear a lot of things I couldn't before." I placed my hand on his bare chest. "Like your heartbeat."

It was a cheesy thing to say, but it worked. He leaned in and kissed me. And I desperately needed that kiss. I needed a direct confirmation of his love, and I knew I wasn't going to hear him say those three words again. A kiss on the lips was the best I'd get, and that's what he gave me.

When we broke apart I immediately moved away, and began looking for my clothes. "What are you doing, Moyashi?"

I laughed as I threw on a shirt. "Getting dressed so you won't have to plot murder when the food gets here." I turned around in time to catch Kanda's glare. I returned the look with a smirk. "Don't think I don't know how possessive you are. We're going to have to have a long chat about that..."

I finished buttoning my shirt, and picked a pair of pants up off the floor. They weren't mine, so I threw them at Kanda's head. He caught them and pulled them on.

I found my pants under a chair, freezing momentarily when I caught sight of the hole Kanda had cut in them. Hopefully Johnny could fix that once my tail was gone, they were my favorite pair. I slipped them on quickly, trying not to notice my tail threading itself through the hole. It felt no different from slipping an arm through a sleeve, but knowing that it was a tail made it creepy.

"You stopped moving, Moyashi. Do I need to be worried?" Kanda's words snapped me out of my thoughts, and I quickly returned to dressing myself.

The knock at the door came right as I finished tucking in my shirt. I looked over at Kanda, he still hadn't put a shirt on. He began to open the door, and I panicked, diving to the corner where my jacket rested over a chair. I pulled it on and threw up the hood, hiding my ears and tail from sight.

Kanda got dressed while I ate breakfast. Which took all of two minutes; after three days that finder still hadn't figured out that I need more food than normal people. But at least my stomach wasn't empty anymore.

.x.x.

The Moyashi hadn't said anything in almost an hour. Sure he'd been in the bathroom some of the time, but still. Most days I would have given anything to make him shut up, but today the quiet was unnerving. He was brooding again. I wished I could make him see how much more beautiful those cat ears made him, but I knew it was a lost cause; sex hadn't worked, and I didn't have the social skills to talk about it with him.

But at least he was showing me his true feelings. If I was anyone else he would've been pretending to be ok. And they'd have believed him.

There was something different this time though. He was staring at me as I got dressed. And his gaze almost seemed angry. As I buttoned my coat it hit me, he had moved on from the cat thing and was moping over a different subject.

I locked eyes with him, and snorted when he looked away. "Are you really that jealous, Moyashi?"

He glared at me. "Are you really surprised?" He mocked. Then he gave an annoyed huff. "Of course I'm jealous. It's been almost two years since I broke critical. That general's coat should be mine."

"And it will be, in three months." I understood his frustration. Even if I hadn't wanted my own promotion, the Moyashi deserved his. He just had to wait a little longer.

"Two months, three weeks, and two days."

"Oh, so you're impatient too?"

"After two years of Central doubting my loyalty? Hell yes."

"I'm surprised you don't blame Komui."

"Why would I blame him?" The Moyashi sounded genuinely confused, like the idea that the supervisor could be at fault had never occurred to him before.

"For making you wait until your birthday."

"Oh."

"Do you even know why he's making you wait?" It was something that had been bothering me for a while, but I could never ask without giving away my feelings for him.

Allen sighed and dropped his gaze. "It's because I'm only seventeen. He doesn't want to put me in such a high risk position until I'm an adult."

"That's stupid." Between his eye and the whole thing with the Fourteenth, the Moyashi was already the exorcist in the most danger. Making him a general wouldn't make things any worse for him.

He sighed and shook his head. "Did you know that Komui looked up the records of all the past critical breakers?"

"So?"

"Before you and me, the youngest to break critical was twenty three."

"Do you have a point?"

"I was fifteen." I saw where he was going now, and his next sentence made it all the more clear. "I'm also the only parasite type on the list."

"Komui thinks you might have the Heart."

Allen opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Kanda-dono, Walker-dono, it's time to leave."

.x.x.

I hoped that finder realized just how badly Kanda wanted to kill him. Not that I knew either, but if I was that irritated with the guy, Kanda must have been furious.

We gathered our suitcases and headed out of the inn, thankful that the finder was only escorting us to the ark gate and not actually coming with us.

I was also thankful that it was cold outside and there were very few people on the streets. It meant there was less noise to hurt my ears, and less chance of anyone seeing them. My coat hid them from sight, but it wouldn't take much to knock my hood off.

About three blocks from our destination, my eye activated. Kanda sensed me stop, and stopped as well. "Where?"

"The river, under the bridge." I activated my Innocence as I turned around. "About twenty level ones. There's a level three as well."

Kanda drew Mugen and began walking back towards the bridge. "You should check your reflection when this is over, Moyashi."

The akuma sprang from hiding before I could question what he meant. I jumped up and started slashing at the level ones, knowing that Kanda would want to face the level three. There was a problem though: I was currently part cat.

My hood had come off when I activated my Innocence, exposing my ears. In the heat of battle, I didn't care about appearances, but akuma are loud. Especially for how sensitive my ears were now. The smell of their poison was much stronger than it used to be too.

But that wasn't the real problem. No, the real problem was that I had discovered a new way in which my body had changed. I pushed off one akuma to reach another, and I missed. I overshot it. It only took a moment for me to figure out what had happened: I was stronger than I was before I changed. I had always been flexible, having spent so much time at the circus, but as I dodged bullets it soon became clear that not only was I much more flexible, I was also faster. All good things, in the long run, but there, in that moment, they were throwing me off. I should have easily wiped out those level ones, instead I was in danger of losing.

.x.x.

I had finished off the level three. I searched for the Moyashi, expecting him to have finished off the others long ago, only to see him still fighting. Something was wrong. I'd spent a lot of time watching Allen fight. That group of akuma should have been no match for him. Yet he was struggling. He wasn't moving like he usually did.

It hit me when I saw him stumble. He was having difficulty with how being part cat had changed his body. I itched to jump in and help him, which wasn't new, I usually felt that way when he was in trouble. I'd just never been able to do so before without starting a fight with him. I could help him now, and I wanted to, but in this instance, he needed to do this alone. I'd hurt more than his pride if I tried to intervene.

.x.x.

Kanda, in his usual bastard fashion, was just standing there, watching me fight. I usually didn't need or want his help, but it always frustrated the crap out of me anyway, that he could be so cold to a comrade. For some reason though, I had expected things to be different now that we were together. It was stupid of me to think he'd change overnight.

I stumbled over my footing once again. Why was it so damn hard to adjust? I needed to pretend I hadn't fought before, forget all my training. I had to focus on what my body wanted to do, listen to my instincts, like I had done with my senses earlier.

The akuma finally defeated, I landed surprisingly gracefully on my feet. I was pissed off, and out of habit, and lack of other targets, I took it out on Kanda. "What the hell, Bakanda?! Couldn't you see I needed help?!"

"And what would have happened if I had helped, Moyashi?" His glare was calm. "Like it or not, but we have no idea how long you're going to be stuck like that. You had to learn how to fight eventually."

"So you just stood there and watched?!"

"They were only level one. And the street's deserted. It's not like there was any actual danger."

I hated that he was right. But that wasn't the only thing I was mad about. "But what about-"

"Don't." Kanda cut me off, he almost sounded emotional. "Don't finish that thought. That has nothing to do with this."

"But-"

He cut me off with a brief kiss. "Stop talking."

Kanda had just kissed me in a public place. I couldn't have talked if I wanted to.

"Thinking with your heart may work for you, but it doesn't for me. I can't let my feelings change how I act on the battlefield. I know the others buy into all that teamwork crap, but you're like me, we've both grown strong by depending only on ourselves. You can argue with me all you want about it, but love is only going to make us do stupid things."

I don't think I'd ever heard Kanda say so much without cursing. He'd also admitted to loving me. "You're so cynical, Yuu."

He pushed me away with a hand on my forehead when I tried to kiss him. "Deactivate your Innocence before you kiss me. I'm not going to risk having you bite me while you're like that."

"Like what?" I blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Your teeth, Moyashi."

I brought my right hand to my mouth. "What about them- oh."

I ran my tongue over my teeth to confirm what my fingers had felt. I had fangs. And they definitely weren't there earlier. This whole part cat thing was really getting on my nerves.

Like Kanda had implicated, the sharp teeth disappeared when I deactivated my Innocence. I sighed. I wonder how many more surprises this curse has in store for me...

.x.x.

The finder was dead. The akuma had gotten him. It wasn't surprising to me, he'd been especially inept.

What was surprising was that the Moyashi didn't seem to care. "What's with you? Aren't you supposed to get all sad and mopey when people die?"

He sighed and leaned against me. "Normally, yes. But in this case..." He shook his head. "In this case it's better this way."

"'Better'?" It was hard to process soft-hearted Allen thinking that it was good someone died. "How?"

When the Moyashi finally spoke again his voice was quiet. "He was going to tell people about us."

I didn't understand. "Why is that a bad thing? It's not like people are going to care that we're gay."

He gave me a look of disbelief. "For starters, homosexuality is considered a mortal sin. Meaning that if Central feels like it, they could have us executed."

I stared down at him, ready to object to his reasoning, but he wasn't done talking.

"Then there's the whole sex outside of marriage thing, which they don't care about nearly as much as they claim to, but they could certainly punish us for that. They've also got bans on certain sexual positions, one of which happens to be the one used between two men. And to top it all off, if they wanted to, they could charge you with rape because I'm technically a minor."

"Relax, Moyashi. We're exorcists, it's not going to be that bad." I refused to be afraid of what ifs.

Allen snorted and rolled his eyes at me. "I've been locked up for treason. You've been part of human experiments. It is going to be that bad."

I didn't have a retort to that. It was too true to deny. I'd have to try a different tactic. "So are you saying you don't want us to be together?"

He froze. "No! Of course not! I-"

I cut him off with a kiss. "Then stop fretting. As long as we act like nothing's changed between us no one will ever find out."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N: If you don't want to do the math for yourself: the countdown Allen recites places this chapter's events on Oct. 2nd.


	6. Chapter 6

"Either get them to open the gate, or I'll make the Moyashi do it." Kanda was shouting at Komui through his golem. And I was just about angry enough to do it. It was my ark after all. Neah had let me keep it when we parted ways.

The people in charge of opening the ark gates had refused to let us in because we were a measly five minutes late. Even explaining that we got ambushed by akuma and lost a finder didn't change their minds. Kanda, true to character, argued with everyone he could about it until they ran away.

"You're going to make me do it? Really, Bakanda? Do you think you can?" From the look on Kanda's face, my challenge had been perceived as a sexual innuendo rather than a death threat.

"Now, now boys, don't kill each other." It was a good thing Komui couldn't actually see us. "And Allen-kun, you're injured, you shouldn't be fighting with Kanda. Just calm down, Lenalee's on her way to open the gate for you."

' _Injured?_ ' I gave Kanda a look. He shrugged. "It was too hard to explain over the phone."

.x.x.

Lenalee led us into headquarters. Lavi pounced on Allen the second we walked inside. The Moyashi was still wearing his stupid hood, probably the only time I'd ever be thankful for that. The last thing either of us wanted right then would be for the Baka Usagi to discover Allen's cat ears.

Allen skillfully dodged the redhead's attempt at a hug. And Lenalee smacked him on the head with her clipboard. "You shouldn't run at him like that if he's hurt, Lavi."

"But he looks fine~!" Lavi whined as he tried to hug my Moyashi again. "You're fine, right Allen-chan~?" Fuck, that rabbit was annoying. And way too loud...

The Moyashi visibly cringed. He bit his lip, strangling a whimper. It must've hurt badly if he was showing others that he was in pain. "Allen-chan?"

"Shut up, Baka Usagi. The moron here hit his head." I pulled my Moyashi away from the redhead, and started dragging him away. "Had to cut the mission short because his hearing's all screwed up."

Allen put on a good show, fighting me as I dragged him from the room. He stopped as soon as we were free of the others. "We're alone now, Yuu. You can let go of me."

I stopped dragging him, but I didn't let go. I merely adjusted my grip so I was holding his hand instead of his wrist. I wasn't ready to release my hold on him just yet. He squeezed my hand gently. "I'm scared too."

"Moyashi." I stopped walking when Komui's office was in sight. "Don't put all your hopes on this psycho."

He laughed mirthlessly. "And who else am I supposed to count on to fix me? Master Cross?" He sighed and let go of my hand. "However crazy Komui might be, he's definitely more reliable than Cross."

I followed him as he walked into the office, making sure to close the door behind us. Komui was sitting at his desk, awake and expecting us. "I got a call from General Cross. It was just as cryptic as yours, Kanda-kun. All he said was that Allen-kun needs my help. Care to tell me what's going on?"

Before Allen could say anything, I shoved him forward and pulled off his hood. "It's easiest to just show you."

Komui stared at the cat ears on Allen's head. His eyes widening in surprise when they moved. Then he immediately glomped the Moyashi. "You're so adorable Allen-chan~!"

I had to resist the urge to draw Mugen. Forcing myself to stay still, I watched Allen push Komui away. "Please don't be so loud, Komui-san."

The supervisor went right back to serious mode, sitting at his desk and gesturing for us to come closer. "What do you mean, Allen-kun? What exactly happened?"

"I was unconscious for most of it. I can really only tell you what-"

"He got cursed by a witch." I cut the Moyashi off. He was going to take way too long to tell the story. "She tried to turn him into a cat. Cross showed up out of nowhere and tried to reverse it. The Moyashi's Innocence helped too. He ended up like that."

Allen turned and glared at me. "Bakanda! You could have at least told it properly!"

I smirked at him. "Then you wanted me to tell him how you cried like a baby? Or the part where you almost lost to a group of level ones?"

Fake fighting sucked. It was a lot easier to make fun of Allen back when I thought he hated me. Now that embarrassed look just made me feel bad. So I acted like I was annoyed, and stormed out. Maybe some training would clear my head.

.x.x.

I was relieved that Kanda left. I didn't trust myself to not give us away.

Komui laughed as the door slammed shut. "Kanda never changes." Then he turned back to me. "Sit down and tell me everything."

I sighed as I looked at the chair. I really had no idea how to sit in it without taking off my coat or sitting on my tail. Komui would have to see the tail eventually, but I was scared of how he'd react. That hug earlier had caught me off guard.

I unbuttoned the jacket and slowly slipped it off. I heard Komui gasp as my tail came into view. He gave me a hesitant smile as I sat down, but I couldn't bring myself to match it. "Where do you want me to start?"

Komui stared at me like he was studying me. "How are you feeling?"

I snorted in annoyance. "Ask me a question I actually know the answer to."

"Sorry." He smiled gently. "I meant, do you feel sick? Does anything hurt?"

I shook my head. "I'm tired and haven't had a good meal in a while, but otherwise I'm fine." Komui's face said he thought I was lying, so I elaborated. "When I first woke up like this everything hurt, but that's passed."

"What hurt the worst?" Komui was writing things down now, apparently we were skipping the story and going straight to the medical exam.

"My head and lower back." I was tempted to roll my eyes at him.

He didn't notice my reaction, he was too focused on his note taking. "Have you noticed any other changes?"

"Where do you want me to start?" This time I did roll my eyes. Then I sighed and answered the question, taking out my frustrations on Komui was not going to help. "My sense of hearing is a lot more sensitive than it used to be. Same goes for my sense of smell. I can-"

"What do you mean by 'more sensitive'?" Komui looked up from his notes as he interrupted.

"Exactly that." I shrugged. "Loud noises seem louder, and I can pick up sounds I couldn't before."

"Like what?"

"Like heartbeats. Or conversations in the next room." I knew this was relevant, but it was still hard to say out loud.

"So you're actually hearing through the cat ears?" Komui asked cautiously, like he was afraid of how I'd react to the question. My answer was to push back my hair and show him that my human ears were gone. He gaped for a moment then looked away. "Oh."

The supervisor returned his gaze to the papers as he scribbled something down. "What were you saying before I cut you off?"

"I can see in the dark now." I waited to make sure he wasn't going to interrupt me again before I continued. "When I activate my Innocence-"

I stopped abruptly. I couldn't say those words. Much like I couldn't acknowledge my ears and tail out loud either.

"What about your Innocence?" Komui's head snapped up urgently when I stopped talking. "Is something wrong with it?"

"As far as I can tell, it's fine." I sighed and bit the bullet. "But when I activate it my ... teeth change..." No, I really couldn't say it. And for all I knew there were other changes, that was just the only one Kanda had told me about.

Komui let it drop. Sort of. "Kanda said you almost lost to some level one akuma. What happened?"

"The bastard stood on the sidelines and refused to help." I huffed in anger. "We were on our way back here when we encountered them. Kanda fought the level three while I took on the rest. It should have been a piece of cake." I shook my head. "Except that the heat of battle is not the time to suddenly discover that your body moves differently. I almost lost because I couldn't fight like I normally would."

Komui scribbled some more notes then set the pen down. "And Cross thinks there might be something I can do to change you back?"

I nodded. "That's what Kanda said. I didn't actually see Master Cross, he was gone before I woke up."

"Then let's go to my laboratory, so I can get a better look at what's happened." He picked up the papers as he stood up.

I swallowed. I hadn't been in Komui's laboratory since we packed up and moved from the old headquarters. Nothing good had ever happened there. It scared me to think that letting this psycho experiment on me was my best chance at returning to normal.

I followed the supervisor out of the room after throwing my coat on. I absolutely did not want any of the science division guys to see me like this.

.x.x.

Allen sat there silently while I poked and prodded him. He cooperated and answered my questions, but he never protested. I did every test I could think of, and Allen never objected. He didn't even fight me when I drew his blood, and he hated that more than getting his Innocence fixed.

"You've been unusually quiet, Allen-kun. What's wrong?" I asked as I finished the last of my notes.

"Really?" He laughed at me. "You can't tell?" He gestured at his ears which twitched in response to his frustration.

"You hate them that much?" From what I'd gathered so far, he was actually better and stronger than he was before. Cat ears and a tail seemed like a fair trade to me. It never occurred to me that he wouldn't see it that way.

He gave me a pointed look. "Am I supposed to be happy that I was cursed?"

"No, I suppose not."

He gave a small smile as he left. "Just figure out how to fix me, ok?"

.x.x.

Waiting for the results of Komui's tests was going to kill me. I just wanted to get this over with and go back to normal.

In the meantime, I went to get a decent meal in the cafeteria, my nearly empty stomach was not helping my mood.

Apparently everyone had heard Kanda's story about me hitting my head. Which wasn't all that surprising given that he had told it to Lavi and Lenalee. No one reacted to me wearing my hood inside, though the cafeteria was fairly empty since dinner wouldn't start for another hour.

Jerry shooed me away from the counter before I even got close. "No, no, sweetie. You go sit down and rest. I'll whip up some of your favorites and have someone bring them out to you. Now go."

I sat down at an empty table, and the food arrived soon after. Lavi and Lenalee came into the cafeteria about then too, sitting at the table with me. I ignored them until my food was gone, but we'd known each other for long enough now that they weren't offended.

I listened to them talk about past missions, the weather, anything and everything they could think of that wasn't me and my last mission. Which meant that the second I was done eating they were going to bombard me with questions. So I took my time.

They were discussing Marie and Miranda's wedding when I finished eating. Interesting. They'd reached events that happened three months earlier. They must have really wanted to question me to put up with me eating that slowly.

"Are you ok, Allen-kun?" Lenalee was on top of things, her question out the second I set my fork down.

I smiled gently at her. "Mostly. But I'm still waiting for the results of the tests your brother did." I would play along; if they thought I had a head injury, pretending to be alright would only make them more suspicious of me.

"What exactly happened? All Kanda would tell us was that you hit your head."

I didn't know how to answer Lavi's question, but I didn't have to. I was rescued by the message that Komui was ready for me. I gave them a smile as I left. "Sorry. Guess we'll have to finish this later."

.x.x.

"So, what's the news, Komui-san?" The tests were done sooner than expected, Allen was expecting good news.

Komui wrapped the white haired boy in a hug. "I'm sorry, Allen-kun. There's nothing I can do."

The hopeful look on Allen's face vanished in an instant. A single tear escaped down his cheek before his expression hardened. "What do you mean?"

"Anything I could do would do more harm than good." Komui sighed and returned to his desk. He knew Allen wasn't going to take this well. "If I try to mess with this you'll only end up deaf."

Allen was silent as he tried to process what he'd just been told. He'd put his hope in Komui only to be told that the supervisor could only make things worse.

"Aren't there any other options?" The desperation Allen felt was audible in his voice. His fists clenched at his sides and his tail twitched behind him. "Can't you make a potion or something?"

"Any potion I could make would be temporary." Komui sighed and took off his glasses. "It would wear off after a couple days. And you'd probably be in pain the entire time."

"Why?" If the situation weren't so serious, Komui would have been distracted by how adorable cat-Allen looked when he was confused.

"Your Innocence would fight it off."

"What?! What do you mean?!"

Komui sighed and gestured for Allen to sit down. "The tests I ran showed that Cross's spell did nothing in fighting off the curse. Your Innocence did all the work. It somehow managed to fight off the bad parts of the curse and leave only the parts that would make you stronger. For some reason I can't understand, it wanted you to be like this."

Allen had no response to that. He just sat there staring at Komui. So Komui kept talking. "You should go see Hevlaska tomorrow. She should be able to give you more specifics. In the meantime, why don't you go get some sleep? You'll feel better after sleeping in your own bed."

Allen nodded slowly and left without a word.

When the door closed, Komui placed his glasses back on his nose and stared at the paper in front of him. He hadn't told Allen what it said, about the change to the boy's body it described. He couldn't bring himself to do it. The boy would only take it badly, and Komui worried that he might take it bad enough to hurt himself. He sighed and stuck the page in Allen's file, hiding it among papers most others would assume were junk.

Allen didn't need to know. After all, the change only mattered if he was gay. And Komui was certain that Allen was not gay.

.x.x.

I opened the door to my room to find Kanda sitting on my bed. I sighed as I closed the door behind me, I wasn't ready to see him just yet. "What are you doing here?"

"Lenalee told me you'd already eaten dinner and that you'd gone to get your test results from Komui. This seemed like the best place to wait for you."

"Why?" I pressed my forehead against the door. I didn't want to look at him.

"Because I knew you'd try to hide from me if it was bad news." Kanda embraced me from behind and pulled off my hood. "I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted him to be able to fix the curse."

I sighed and leaned into the hug. "Actually Komui can fix the curse."

"That's good, right? So what's wrong?" He pulled me away from the door and led me towards the bed.

"My Innocence won't let him." I sighed as I flopped down on the mattress.

Kanda sat beside me and started rubbing my ears. The feeling was nice and relaxing after the stressful day I'd had, so I didn't push him away. We were silent for a while before I spoke again. "According to Komui, my Innocence chose which parts of the curse affected me. I'm like this because it's what my Innocence wants."

I still didn't know how I felt about that. I wanted things to go back to normal, mostly- I wasn't about to give up Kanda. I didn't want to be part cat. I didn't want to have a tail. But if that's what my Innocence wanted... Well, it had had my best interests at heart for years. Why should I start doubting it now? If this is what it wanted for me, why shouldn't I trust it?

The answer? There wasn't one. There was no reason why I shouldn't trust the thing I trusted with my life. If this is what my Innocence wants then I guess I have to accept that I was different now and move on.

Having reached a decision, I looked up at Kanda. He was still petting me, his expression was unreadable. "What are you going to do now, Moyashi?"

"If this is what my Innocence wants, then there's no point in fighting it." I smiled up at him, hoping it conveyed my acceptance. "So I guess I'm part cat now."

He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Are you ok with that?"

"I'm working on it." I sat up and leaned against him. "There are some things I'm going to have to get used to first."

I couldn't see his face, but I felt him smirk. "What?!"

"You'll be fine. You've gotten used to the purring already." I pulled away and narrowed my eyes at him, he met my gaze. "Don't give me that look. You've been purring for the last hour, and haven't tried to push me away once."

An hour? Had I really been lost in thought that long? The purring would explain why Kanda hadn't interrupted me though. Because for some inexplicable reason he liked that. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

Kanda laughed, scratching my ear and reminding me that he hadn't stopped petting my head. Which meant that I was still purring. Somehow I was no longer aware of that rumbling in my chest. He was right, I'd gotten used to it.

I looked up at him when he suddenly stood up. He leaned down and kissed me, then he started walking towards the door. "Where are you going, Yuu?"

"You need sleep tonight, Moyashi. If I don't leave now that won't happen." It took me a second to understand what he meant.

"And if I asked you to stay?"

He paused with his hand on the doorknob. He laughed. "Go to sleep, Allen." Then he was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up in Kanda's arms, my face buried in his chest. And I was instantly wide awake. We were in my room. But he wasn't here when I fell asleep, he'd left long before then. So why was he here now?

"Good morning, Moyashi."

I glared at him. "How long have you been in my room?"

"All night." He smirked. "I snuck in after you fell asleep."

I noticed his heartbeat change rhythm briefly. I knew Marie could detect lies by listening to heartbeats, and I wondered if that's what I'd just noticed.

I elbowed Kanda in the stomach. "You're lying."

"Did you have to use your left arm?" He gasped.

Yes, using my Innocence arm was probably overkill. I kept up my glare. "Fine. I came in to check on you just a moment ago. You looked so adorable that I couldn't resist climbing into bed with you."

I shook my head and rolled onto my back. "What time is it?"

"I just finished my morning meditation, so a little after six." That explained why the sun wasn't up yet. My boyfriend was a morning person.

I pulled the covers over my head. "Why'd you have to wake me up so early, bastard?"

"I didn't mean to wake you up, I wanted to watch you sleep." He pulled the covers off me. "But since you're up..."

I sat up and narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't you have better things to do?"

"Than have sex with you? Of course not." His cobalt eyes sparked with mischief.

I kicked him off the bed. Or I tried, he stood up before I could. "That's not what I meant, Bakanda. Don't you have general's duties to attend to?"

He gave me a quizzical look. "Last night you were all for sex. What happened?"

I looked down at my lap. "Komui wants me to go see Hevlaska today."

He grabbed my chin and made me look at him. "There's no reason to be afraid of Hevlaska, Moyashi."

"I know. I'm just a little nervous." I smiled hesitantly at him. "What if-"

I froze when I heard footsteps approaching my room. "Someone's coming."

"So?"

"Do you want to get caught in my bedroom?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do you want me to leave or hide?" Kanda looked annoyed.

The footsteps were too close for him to leave without being noticed. But I knew who it was now. I smiled in relief. "You can hide if you want, but it's just Johnny." I pointed to the chair behind him. "Toss me my shirt."

He didn't toss it so much as drop it on my head. But I had the shirt on before Johnny knocked on the door, so I didn't bother complaining.

"Allen? Are you awake?"

"I am. You can come in, Johnny." I pulled the blanket over my legs. Kanda crossed his arms and glared at me.

The door opened slowly, and Johnny stuck his head in hesitantly. "Komui said you'd need my help this morning. What is it- Ah, Kanda. Good morning."

He stepped the rest of the way inside and closed the door. He smiled brightly. "So you finally got together! Congratulations!"

That was not what either of us were expecting him to say. Kanda turned his glare on Johnny. "How the fuck did you reach that conclusion?"

"Neah told me you like each other. The room gave away the rest." His bright smile faded. "Was that not right? Did I assume too much?"

Kanda growled something under his breath about killing Neah. I smiled gently at Johnny. "It's alright. We're just still trying to figure this out. It's only been a couple days."

Kanda glared at me. "Mo-ya-shii."

"Relax, Bakanda." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Che." He stormed out of the room.

Johnny didn't bat an eye at the outburst. "I see you still can't go five minutes without fighting."

I sighed. Forcing a smile, I changed the subject. "You said Komui sent you. Did he say why?"

"No, just that I'd need this." He held up his box of sewing supplies. "What is it you need fixed?"

I blinked at Johnny. It was easy to forget that Komui was actually smart. But so was Johnny. My ears were out in the open. Why hadn't he noticed them?

"Allen?"

"Yes?"

Johnny looked embarrassed. "Um... Kanda left. Maybe you want to take those off now."

"Huh?" What on earth was he talking about?

"The cat ears."

I turned bright red. He thought they were fake. And that Kanda had made me wear them.

I averted my gaze, reaching up to stroke one of my ears. "Umm. Actually that's why Komui sent you."

It was Johnny's turn to blush. "What do you mean?"

I climbed off the bed, very aware of my tail moving behind me. "I had a run in with a witch on that last mission." I watched Johnny watch my tail. "I'm going to need my pants fixed."

"Right!" Johnny forced his gaze away from my tail. He grabbed the pants that were on the back of the chair. And immediately freaked out. "What the hell happened to these?!"

"Kanda."

"I should have guessed. He's got no respect for my hard work."

"Don't be too hard on him. I needed pants and all we had was a table knife."

He set the pants back on the chair. "These will need some work. Where do you keep the others?"

I walked over to my dresser and opened the drawer my pants were in, thankful I'd cleaned my room recently. Johnny stood beside me, peering into the drawer. "Which ones do you want me to adjust?"

"All of them." I tried to push the sadness away. I was determined to make the best of this.

"Really?" Johnny sounded surprised, and I couldn't blame him. "But what about when you change back to normal?"

I sighed. "I'm not going back to normal."

"You don't know that Allen! Komui will come up with something!"

I couldn't help but smile at Johnny's optimism, but it faded quickly. "He's tried. My Innocence wants me to stay like this."

Johnny was silent for a moment, then his optimism kicked back in. "Then I've got a lot of work to do!" He pulled the whole stack of pants out of the drawer and set them on the bed. He smiled at me as he returned to the dresser. "You'll need your boxers fixed too."

He added those to the pile on my bed, then he turned to me. He smiled hesitantly. "Now I'm going to need to... measure you."

"Right. What do you need me to do?"

He placed his box on the chair and opened it up. "Take your shirt off. It's blocking the area I need to see."

I did as I was told, though it was a little ironic given that he was reason I'd put the shirt on in the first place.

"Kanda got ahold of these too, didn't he?" I heard Johnny sigh from behind me.

I held my breath as he took the measurements he needed. I may have been good friends with Johnny and trusted him to be professional, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing to have him examining my tail.

"I'm done. You can put your shirt back on now."

While I did that, or rather, while I tossed the shirt in the laundry and put on a fresh one, Johnny picked up a pair of boxers from the bed and went to work fixing them. Since I was stuck in my room until he finished, I sat on the bed and watched him work.

My stomach rumbled right as he finished. He smiled as he passed me the boxers. "Go put those on. And toss the ones you're wearing, they're not fixable. I'll fix a pair of pants so you can go to breakfast, and take the rest with me." He walked over to the pile. "Do you have a preference for which ones I do first?"

I pulled out a pair of basic black pants and handed them to him. "Thanks Johnny."

He smiled back at me, then went to work on the pants. I changed my boxers while he was otherwise occupied. He looked up at me when I sat down beside him. "So you and Kanda. Are you happy with him?"

I laughed. "We've only been together for a day and a half. At this point I'm just happy that he's made it that long without pointing Mugen at me."

"I suppose that's fair." He smiled and returned his attention to my pants.

"What exactly did Neah tell you?" I was scared of the answer. Neah knew all of my secrets.

"Just that you and Kanda like each other. He asked me to keep an eye on you two when he left." Johnny handed me my pants. The hole he had made for my tail was clean and neat; he had done a good job despite having to work so quickly.

As I ran my finger around the hole, Johnny placed a hand on my shoulder. "It'll be ok, Allen."

"Thanks."

He gathered up his tools and my other pants, and left with a smile.

I got dressed quickly and headed off to breakfast. But not before throwing on my jacket and hiding my ears and tail. I may have decided to accept them, but that didn't mean that I was ready to show them off yet.

.x.x.

I'd spent breakfast pestering Kanda for more information on what had happened to Allen. Lenalee joined me when she came in, but Kanda kept insisting that he'd already told us everything he knew.

It was about then that Allen came into the cafeteria. He was still wearing his hood, and he acted like he couldn't see us until Lenalee called him over.

He smiled when he sat down. "Good morning."

"You're up early Allen-kun." Lenalee smiled back at him.

"Some bastard barged into my room before the sunrise and woke me up." The direction of his glare made it clear that Kanda was the bastard in question.

"Che. You could have gone back to sleep."

"You didn't let me, Bakanda!"

They glared at each other in silence. Lenalee and I shared a look. Their fighting had calmed down after everything that had happened while they were off dealing with the Fourteenth. Most days it was no longer hard to believe that they might actually be friends. But apparently today was one of those days where they just couldn't stand each other.

Lenalee cleared her throat to get their attention. "So, are you feeling better today, Allen-kun?"

He turned away from Kanda to smile at her. "I am."

I gave Allen a pointed looked as he shoved a piece of toast into his mouth. "You ran off before I got an answer yesterday. And that guy," I pointed my fork at Kanda, "won't tell me anything. What exactly happened?"

Allen shoved more food in his mouth. I couldn't tell if he was lost in thought or if he was ignoring me. But maybe he simply hadn't heard me, it was his ears he'd hurt after all.

"Moyashi." When Allen looked up Kanda reached over and yanked off his hood.

"What'd you do that for? Bakanda!" Allen's hands immediately reached for his hood, but Kanda kept a firm grip on it so he couldn't pull it back on.

"Che. You were going to have to show them eventually, Moyashi."

I blinked. 'Show them'? Show us what? What were we supposed to see? I watched Allen critically as he sighed and dropped his hands to his lap. He smiled halfheartedly at us and that's when I saw it. Or rather, them. Sticking out of the mess of white hair on his head was a pair of cat ears. They were covered with short white fur and the insides were a soft pink. And from the way they occasionally twitched, they were very real. "Ok let's try this again: what the hell happened?"

Allen sighed and dropped his gaze to his plates. "We ran into a witch."

"Che. You ran into the witch. You're the one she cursed."

Someone probably should stop them from fighting, but it wouldn't be me. I couldn't tear my eye off those cat ears, the way they moved was fascinating.

"Right, you just watched it happen. Like you just watched those akuma nearly kill me."

"Boys!" Lenalee slammed her hands down on the table. "Stop fighting and tell the story!"

"Actually that pretty much is the story." Allen smiled sheepishly. "I got cursed by a witch, and then I nearly got killed by a group of akuma on the way home."

"Ran into a level four, eh?" It was a reasonable assumption, Allen was freakishly strong.

Allen glared at me, then shifted his gaze to Kanda, who was smirking like he knew a secret. "Don't say it."

Kanda's smirk grew wider. "Moyashi nearly got his ass handed to him by a handful of level ones."

I couldn't believe that, but Allen's expression said Kanda was telling the truth. Lenalee looked as horrified as I felt. "How is that possible?"

Allen had slammed his forehead down on the table in embarrassment. He pointed to his ears. "This isn't the only part of me that got changed."

"He also has a tail." Kanda was still smirking.

That was until Allen elbowed him in the stomach. "Bakanda!"

Allen with cat ears and a tail. There were going to be a whole lot more finders who wished they were gay after seeing that.

Something else occurred to me with that thought. "You went to see Komui. Is he trying to change you back?"

Allen laughed briefly, but didn't lift his head off the table. "That was the idea behind letting him use me as a pincushion."

"So what did Nii-san say? There must be something he can do."

"There isn't." It was rare to see Allen look that serious outside of battle. "That curse was supposed to turn me into a cat completely. It was my Innocence that made me turn out like this." He gave Lenalee a small smile. "There's nothing Komui can do because my Innocence won't let him."

"What did Hevlaska say?" If his Innocence was involved he must have gone to see her.

"I'm heading down there after breakfast." That would explain why he'd barely touched the food. He was trying to put off the visit.

"Then we'll leave you alone so you can finish." Lenalee must have caught on to that too. She stood up and gathered her plates, shooting me a look before she walked away.

Fearing Lenalee's wrath, I grabbed my tray and followed her. Looking back I saw Allen frowning at his food. Kanda was talking, but I couldn't make it out over the noise of the room.

.x.x.

"Moyashi. Eat and go see Hevlaska. It'll either be good news or she'll confirm what Komui told you. Either way things can't get worse. So just go and get it over with." He whispered quietly enough that I was the only one who could hear him.

I smiled hesitantly up at Kanda. "I know."

"Good. I've got things to do now, I'll come find you later-" His expression hardened suddenly. "Lavi's watching us. You should yell at me as I leave so he doesn't get suspicious."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't tell me what to do, Bakanda!" Then I shoved him off the bench. Keeping up the façade, I stabbed angrily at the food in front of me.

Once I was eating I was reminded of how hungry I was, so the food disappeared quickly. I fixed my hood before leaving the table.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

AN: Thanks for the Reviews/Favorites/Follows!

Ryuakilover: Not in this story. Sorry. ;)


	8. Chapter 8

It was no surprise at all that Lavi was waiting for me in the hallway outside of the cafeteria. He had clearly disagreed with Lenalee when she had decided I needed space. She was my best friend, she knew me better than I knew myself sometimes, and she was probably right that I needed some time to myself. However, I really did not want to face Hevlaska alone, so I let Lavi tag along.

I knocked hesitantly on the door to Komui's office. I could hear enough of what was happening on the other side to know the supervisor wasn't alone. "Come in, Allen-kun."

Lavi laughed at my surprise. "You're the only one polite enough to knock."

I stuck my tongue out at him briefly before opening the door. And if Lavi hadn't been right behind me, and therefore blocking my escape route, I would have left immediately. Leverrier and Link were there. I did not want to see either of them.

"Hello Walker."

I didn't feel the need to acknowledge the inspector, so I ignored him and turned my attention to Komui. "I can come back later if you're busy."

"Sorry, Allen-kun. The inspectors are actually here because of you." Komui stood up and clapped his hands together in forced cheerfulness. "Shall we go see Hevlaska now?"

Of course Central had somehow already heard that I was having issues with my Innocence.

I stared at Komui's back as he led the way to Hevlaska's chamber. Lavi walked beside me, and I intentionally blocked out the other two. I was nervous enough about this, I didn't need to worry about Central too.

Hevlaska greeted Komui warmly. "Good morning. What brings you to see me?"

"Good morning, Hev." Komui smiled at her. "Allen-kun is having a little trouble with his Innocence. Could you check it out for us?"

"Of course." She turned her attention to me. "What seems to be the problem, Allen?"

I sighed and took my coat off. And promptly heard everyone gasp at what they saw. I ignored them and looked up at Hevlaska. "It fought off a curse. Not long after that I struggled fighting some level ones."

At her bidding I came closer. I did my best to hold still while she examined my Innocence, but the invasive feeling made it difficult. Hevlaska smiled gently as she set me back down.

"What's the verdict, Hevlaska?" I was glad Komui asked, I was too scared.

"Allen and his Innocence have fallen out of sync." That didn't sound good.

"Does that mean Walker is no longer a critical breaker?" Leverrier's tone was demanding and rude. I froze in horror at the implication. _Was it possible that I'd lost the ability to draw my sword?_

"No. His synchro rate is actually higher than it was last time I inspected it." Hevlaska gave me a small smile. "They've both been through a traumatic event. They're simply too weak to synchronize properly. The Innocence overstrained itself, and Allen has yet to adjust to the changes to his body."

"Does that mean Walker can't fight anymore?"

"Again, no. Allen merely needs time to recover. Once he and his Innocence are back to full strength they'll be able to sync correctly once again. However, until that happens he should stay off the battlefield. In his current state he'll only be at risk for repeating what happened before."

"You're talking about benching one of the Order's best exorcists. I can't allow that to happen." _Yet you had no problems with pulling me off missions back when you thought I was a Noah._

"Secretary Leverrier. That is my call, not yours." Komui sounded as frustrated as I felt. "Based on what Hevlaska has told us, Allen-kun should be treated like he's recovering from a major injury. Therefore he will be kept off missions until he's well enough to fight again."

So I was going to be stuck at headquarters until I got used to being part cat. Wonderful.

Leverrier growled at Komui and stormed off. Link gave me an apologetic smile and followed after him. Once they were gone, Lavi spoke up. "What about changing him back?"

"Ah, yes." Komui cleared his throat and turned back to Hevlaska. "I suspect that Allen-kun's Innocence would repel any attempts to return him to normal. Can you confirm whether or not that is indeed the case?"

I braced myself for bad news. Despite what I had told Kanda, I expected things to get worse.

"Your thinking is correct, Komui. Allen's Innocence does want him to stay this way. If it had simply dispelled the entire curse it wouldn't have drained itself like it did." She gave me a gentle smile. "I'm sorry, Allen. I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"It may not be what I want, but I decided last night that if this is what my Innocence wants, then I will accept it." I smiled at her. "Honestly I'm just relieved that everything is alright."

"Dude, I wouldn't call getting benched 'alright'." Lavi laughed and placed an arm around my shoulders. "How can you still be so positive after all these years?"

I tried to shove him away, he responded by ruffling my hair like I was a little kid. His fingers brushed one of my ears, and my gut reaction was to stomp on his foot. "What was that for?!"

I backed away from him, holding my ear. It didn't hurt, but the feeling was so bizarre. I had accepted that I was different, but I still needed time to adjust, and the invasion of my personal space didn't help.

Lavi apologized immediately when he saw me clutch my ear. "Oh my god. Allen, I'm so sorry. Are you ok?"

I forced myself to smile at him, that fake smile I knew fooled everyone but Kanda. "I'm fine. Just a little startled. But given the circumstances that's to be expected, right?" I laughed lightly as I moved to pick up my coat. Then I thanked Hevlaska and left the chamber.

Lavi caught up to me when I stopped to put my coat on. He gave me a weird look as I pulled on my hood. "You're not going to be able to hide forever. People are going to find out."

"I know." I sighed as I adjusted the fabric to make sure my ears were hidden. "I'm just not ready for the freaking out yet. I want to have a chance to get used to this before I have to explain it to others."

Lavi threw his arm around my shoulders again. "Wearing your hood inside is just going to make them suspicious."

"So long as everyone thinks I suffered a head injury on that last mission it'll work for a few days." I smiled as I pushed him off of me.

Lavi followed me to the training room. I had hoped he would leave me alone, but I could see the curiosity sparkling in his eye and knew that any attempt to get him to go away would fail.

The room was empty, Kanda must have gone off on a mission. I stared at the door for quite some time after I closed it behind me, debating whether or not I should lock it.

.x.x.

It surprised Lavi when Allen locked the door. The teen had seemed perfectly fine, which made Lavi wonder why he suddenly felt the need for privacy. "Allen, what-"

The redhead was cut off when Allen threw his coat over his head. While he untangled himself from the fabric, Allen crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at him. "If you're going to stay then you have to promise to keep your mouth shut."

From the look on his face, Lavi could tell that the boy was dead serious. He knew that he would be dead if he breathed a word to anyone about what he was about to see. The redhead contemplated leaving, but his curiosity was too strong. He calmly backed up against the wall and out of the teen's way. "I promise."

Allen stared at him for a moment longer before he turned and walked out into the middle of the room. Lavi watched intently as Allen worked through his usual warm up routine of stretches and modified circus tricks. Though he had a hard time forcing himself to focus on the white haired boy and not the tail that moved behind him.

Allen moved slower than usual, concentrating hard on what he was doing. He was testing all the ways in which his body had changed. Lavi found himself wishing he had paid more attention to the boy before now so that he could catalogue what those changes were. As it was he had no frame of reference and could only tell that the boy was freakishly flexible.

Then Allen fell. He managed to catch himself and make it look like it was on purpose, but the expression on his face gave away his frustration. If it was possible, Lavi's attention became even more focused on the white haired boy. He may not have paid much attention before, but he knew that Allen had his routine down, and he never stumbled unless Kanda was somehow involved.

About two minutes later it happened again. And around the fourth time Allen started swearing whenever he stumbled. And that was just as shocking to Lavi as the falling was. Allen only ever swore at Kanda, and only when he was really pissed, which made Lavi realize that Allen was a lot more upset than he had been led to believe.

As the hours passed the swearing only got worse. Neither of the young men noticed that lunchtime had come and gone. Allen was breathing heavily and his hair was matted to his forehead with sweat. His ears and tail constantly twitched. He was angry as hell and looked it. He wasn't going to get anywhere if he continued on like that. "Allen."

"WHAT?!"

Lavi gulped at suddenly becoming the focus of Allen's rage. Everyone knew by then that even if he rarely showed it, Allen's temper rivaled Kanda's. You did not want to be on the receiving end of it. "Why don't you take a break? Get some dinner and cool down a little. You'll feel better."

"No. I can't stop-" Allen's angry protest was interrupted by his stomach rumbling. "Fine."

Lavi laughed and handed him his jacket, watching in fascination as Allen hid his ears under the hood. He was so caught up in it that he didn't notice the glare Allen was giving him. "Could you stop staring at me?"

"Sorry." Lavi averted his eye quickly. "It's hard not to stare, they're just so-"

"'So' what?" Allen hissed, cutting Lavi off. "Weird? Strange?"

"Actually, I was going to say adorable." Lavi's word choice startled the boy. True to Cross's prediction, Allen had hardly any self-esteem left. He still thought of himself as a freak, still secretly thought that Kanda was only pretending to love him to get in his pants. As much as his male ego hated being called cute, hearing it from someone who didn't have ulterior motives felt really good.

Lavi saw the stunned expression on Allen's face, so he smiled and kept talking. "Why do you think Lenalee ran away at breakfast? It certainly wasn't because she thought you needed space."

Allen blinked in confusion, making the redhead smirk. "She's got a crush on you, you know. You could probably use this cat thing to finally get with her."

"You better not let Komui hear you say things like that." The white haired boy sighed as he opened the training room door. "Besides, Lenalee and I had that conversation over a year ago. She knows I don't like her like that."

That revelation set Lavi's mind reeling. The bean sprout not liking Lenalee put a major wrench in everything he'd been plotting.

Allen was thankful that Lavi let the subject drop and remained quiet on the walk to the cafeteria. Though he probably wouldn't have been quite so relieved if he knew what the redhead was thinking about.

The white haired teen suddenly froze about ten feet from the cafeteria doors, causing the spaced out Lavi to bump into him. Allen didn't notice though. He was too focused on the sheer amount of noise coming from the cafeteria. His previous two meals had both been while the cafeteria was relatively empty, and therefore relatively quiet. But this was the middle of the dinner rush, and the noise that went with it felt deafening to his overly sensitive ears.

His mismatched hands flew to his ears in an attempt to shelter them from the noise. As his fingers brushed against the soft fur, tears began to prick at the corners of his eyes. Allen blinked them away quickly. He was not going to cry over this anymore.

While Allen forced himself to calm down and make his ears adjust to the excess volume, Lavi tried to get the cat-boy's attention. The teen had suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway, and the pained expression on his face worried the apprentice Bookman. When he finally got a response from the boy he wasn't expecting it to be, "It's too loud."

Lavi blinked at the whispered words. "What are you talking about? It's no louder than it usually is."

"It is to me." Allen dropped his hands back down to his sides.

When the boy cringed at the change in volume it finally clicked for Lavi. "We can come back when it's not so crowded if you want. Or I can go grab something for you and we could eat somewhere else. The third floor lounge is usually empty this time of day."

Allen smiled at the redhead's concern. "Thanks, but I'm going to have to face it eventually, so I might as well start now. I can't avoid the cafeteria forever, right?"

Both laughed briefly at the joke. The idea of Allen avoiding the cafeteria was pretty ridiculous.

They walked into the cafeteria and waited in line together. Nothing more was said, Lavi choosing to remain silent and let Allen adjust to the noise in the room.

When they were halfway through the line Allen's usual smile returned to his face, which Lavi took as a sign that his friend had recovered. Before he could say anything however, there was a loud shout from across the cafeteria. "Allen!"

Allen winced as the blue haired boy came from out of nowhere and jumped on his back. "Hey Timothy."

Timothy wrapped his arms around Allen's neck, adjusting his position on the white haired teen's back. "They said you got hurt on your last mission. Are you ok?"

Before Allen could answer the question, the boy continued chattering. "Why are you wearing your coat inside? Aren't you hot? And why's your hood up? It's not gonna rain inside."

Allen's hood was pulled off before Timothy was done talking. The cat ears twitched as they were released from their hiding place. Timothy laughed when he saw them, unaware that Allen was frozen in fear. "Why are you wearing cat ears? That's weird, even for you."

The blue haired boy reached up and grabbed one of the ears. He tugged on it innocently, thinking it would come off. The action was met with a pained yowl from Allen as the teen practically threw the boy off his back.

The entire cafeteria turned to look at source of the screeching. One was Timothy, surprised at having been suddenly dropped on his butt. No one paid him much attention, the blue haired boy was generally found to be annoying and probably deserved it. The other cry had come from Allen. Everyone stared at the white haired teen as he clutched the ear that Timothy had yanked. Or rather, they all stared at the other white furred cat ear sticking out of the teen's head.

"Allen! Are you ok?" Lavi immediately moved to check his ear, but the white haired teen shoved him away.

"I'm fine. Let go of me." Lavi didn't listen and continued to try to move Allen's hand out of the way. Seeing how angry Allen was with the redhead, the observers quickly went back to what they were doing, though they couldn't help sneaking glances at the teen.

Timothy picked himself up off the floor, ready to yell at Allen for pushing him. But when he saw what Lavi was doing, and the barely concealed pain on Allen's face, he at least had the sense to not say what he was thinking.

Successfully pushing Lavi away, Allen pulled his hood back on. He tried his best to ignore the stares coming from the rest of the room. Lavi threw an arm around his shoulders. "Dude, you probably don't need the hood anymore." Allen frowned at the suggestion.

Timothy looked from one teen to the other. "What's going on?"

Allen sighed and let Lavi pull his hood back off. The redhead tried to touch one of the ears and was rewarded with an elbow to his rib cage. "Don't touch!"

He gave Timothy a half smile. "There was an incident on my last mission, and now I have cat ears."

Before the boy could respond someone else spoke. "And a tail. You always forget to mention the tail."

Allen glared at the intruder. "That's because it's embarrassing, Bakanda! Why do you feel the need to constantly remind me of it?!"

Kanda smirked at him. "Because you find it embarrassing, Moyashi."

"Bastard."

Lavi pulled Allen away from the Japanese man before they decided to start fighting in the middle of the cafeteria. It had been four months since they'd pulled their weapons on each other outside of the training room, and the redhead wanted that streak to last a little longer. "Ok Allen, I've had about all the swearing I can take from you today. It's your turn in line."

He shoved Allen towards the window where Jerry was waiting. "Well aren't you just adorable today. What can I make for you?"

The teen blushed as he listed off the numerous dishes he was hungry for. He wanted to put his hood back on, but he knew one of his friends would just pull it off again.

The others placed their orders, Kanda not caring that he had cut ahead of several finders, and the finders too scared of him to complain. When the food was ready Timothy led the three older exorcists over to the table he'd been sitting at. Kanda kicked Allen away when he tried to sit down. "If you want to sit down, lose the coat, Moyashi."

"Don't tell me what to do, Bakanda!"

He turned to the others for help. Lavi shrugged. "I'm with Kanda on this one, Allen. And it looks like Timothy is going to die of curiosity, so just take the jacket off."

Allen grumbled, but did what they wanted. Timothy squealed in delight when the white furred tail came into view. "That's so awesome! You're a neko!"

The older three all stared at the blue haired boy in confusion, but it was Lavi who spoke. "What's a neko?"

"It's the Japanese word for cat." Kanda answered with a growl. "But I'm guessing he means something more than that."

"Of course I do!" Timothy stuck his tongue out at the samurai. He pulled out one of the comic books from the pile by his plates. Placing it where the others could see it, he flipped it open and pointed to the drawing of a girl with cat ears. "See! In comic books a neko is someone with cat ears and a tail. Like Allen."

Lavi had that gleam in his eye that meant trouble was coming. But when he looked over at Allen to start the teasing the words died in his throat. Allen's black side was ready and waiting for any taunt the redhead could come up with. Not wanting to start something he wasn't going to win, Lavi kept his mouth shut.

"Moyashi." Kanda smirked at Allen. He was no longer afraid of the teen's black side. Now that they were together, the worst that could happen to him was rough sex, and that was far from a bad thing.

"My name's Allen, Bakanda! Why can't you get that through your thick skull?!" The teen was nowhere near as angry as he was pretending to be, he merely wanted to keep his friends from teasing him. Truthfully he was relieved that there was a word for what he had become. It was somehow comforting to know that half-cats existed, even if the others were fictional.

After the outburst, Allen turned his attention to his food and began eating as if nothing had happened. The three watching the neko gaped at the sudden change in behavior. They couldn't tell if the storm had passed or if more trouble was on the way. "Allen?"

The white haired teen stared levelly at the redhead. "You can call me a neko all you want. I really don't mind. But if you turn it into a joke or a nickname," he glared at Kanda, "then we're going to have a problem."

Lavi filed away the threat for later, he had more pressing concerns at the moment. "You're really ok with that?" Allen's mouth was full, so he could only nod. "Really? Even after the day you had?"

"What's your point, Lavi?"

"You're not as ok as you've been pretending to be." Allen tried to protest, but Lavi stopped him. "No, no more of that. I've spent all day with you. I've never heard anyone swear that much. So stop pretending. I want to know what you really think. Are you really ok with being called a neko?"

Allen was having trouble keeping a straight face. Kanda had placed a hand on the neko's knee. It was a simple gesture meant to be comforting, but to Allen it was so much more than that, and he had to struggle to not react. "I'm fine with it. Honestly."

They all fell silent. Lavi didn't believe Allen, but the neko was now ignoring him, giving his undivided attention to the food in front of him. Timothy was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that Allen knew more swear words than Lavi.

Kanda was thankful for the silence. He wanted dinner to finish quickly so he could be alone with his Moyashi. He didn't have to wait long; it was also what Allen wanted, so the neko ate his dinner quickly. The pair escaped the cafeteria together, those who saw assumed they were heading to the training hall to beat the crap out of each other.


	9. Chapter 9

The Moyashi and I left the cafeteria in silence. He walked a few paces ahead of me, but I didn't mind letting him lead. I had a wonderful view, I could stare at his ass all day, and the way his tail swayed and curled was fascinating.

Allen stopped in front of a door, and I was momentarily disoriented; this wasn't his room. "Why'd you pick my room, Moyashi?"

"So we'd have privacy." He smiled sweetly, but it was hiding something devious; he knew what I wanted and he was going to make me work for it. "No one would think to look for me here."

I smirked at him and unlocked the door. He stepped inside, and I closed and locked the door behind us.

When I turned around he was flopped on the bed, rubbing one of his ears. The cheerful expression he'd worn through dinner was gone, replaced by one that was tired and frustrated. I had always been able to tell when he was faking happiness, but it was startling that he already trusted me enough to give up the pretense when we were alone.

"Tough day, Moyashi?" I couldn't help smiling a little as I sat down on the edge of the bed. I pulled his head onto my lap and replaced his fingers with my own.

He snorted, but I felt him relax into my touch. "Let's see: Central knows about the curse. I've fallen out of sync with my Innocence, and am therefore benched until I get used to being a neko. I spent the entire day training and couldn't do a single thing right. And to top it all off, thanks to Timothy yanking my ear, the entire cafeteria has seen my ears and tail."

"They were going to see them eventually, Moyashi. Now that it's out in the open you don't have to stress about it anymore." I had stopped rubbing his ear, because it wasn't worth the effort if he wasn't going to purr. But if he wasn't purring because he was in pain... "And of course one day of training wasn't going to make a difference. You should know that better than anyone. It took over a week for you to recover your Innocence, and that was only an arm. This thing changed your entire body. You have to give it time."

He sighed. "I know. And I know that I'll come out of this whole neko thing stronger than ever. But I hate being stuck on the sidelines while everyone else fights."

"That's twice now that you've used that word." I stopped rubbing his ear.

"Which word?" He turned his head to look at me. The confused look on his face made me grow harder than I already was, he looked so innocent and pure.

"Neko."

"So?" He blinked adorably at me. His head was a hairsbreadth from my erection, it seemed impossible that he hadn't noticed it yet.

"Then you weren't lying at dinner? You really don't mind it?"

He shook his head, and I had to bite back a moan as he brushed against me. I caught the subtle gleam in his eyes, he knew. "Honestly I like it. I like that there's a word for what I am. It makes me feel less alone."

"You're not alone, Moyashi."

"Clearly." He very deliberately pressed against my erection. "How are you that worked up already?"

"I spent all day trying to track down Cross. It wasn't nearly as distracting as your day was." He moved slightly and I had to swallow another moan. "I've been worked up ever since you refused me in your room this morning, Moyashi."

"We'll have to do something about that then." He pressed his head against me once more, then in one fluid motion he was off the bed and kneeling in front of me.

"What are you ... do-ing, Moyashiii-" Before the question was out he had undone my pants, freed my erection, and taken it in his mouth.

I collapsed backwards onto the bed, lost in what Allen was doing to me. I had thought that he was good with his tongue when we kissed, but that was nothing compared to the pleasure he gave me as he licked and sucked my shaft.

.x.x.

Allen pulled away from Kanda before the samurai could come. The neko smirked at the glare he was given. "Now, now Yuu~, you should know by now that I'm not going to make things that easy for you."

The samurai's response to the taunt was to kick the neko in the shin. Allen merely laughed at the weak attempt; Kanda was undeniably not in his right mind, otherwise he wouldn't have missed. Allen hopped up onto the bed so that he was kneeling over the samurai. He deliberately took his time unbuttoning the other's jacket, wondering how long it would take before the samurai snapped.

Kanda meanwhile, was definitely not thinking clearly. He merely watched as Allen took the lead; initiating sex was something he hadn't expected the neko to do. So he cooperated as Allen undressed him, his curiosity over the neko's next move winning out over his desire to be in control.

Once the samurai's clothes were removed, Allen leaned down and kissed him. Kanda returned the kiss, busying his hands with unbuttoning the neko's shirt. When that was done, he moved his hands to the boy's white hair, not noticing that his hair tie had been removed, or that they had moved further onto the bed.

Allen was thrown off by how submissive Kanda was acting. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to take advantage of it. He broke the kiss, taking the samurai's hair tie between his teeth. He quickly removed the ribbon from his neck. Then in one swift motion he pulled Kanda's hands out of his hair and tied the man's wrists to the headboard.

The neko slid off the bed and surveyed the man beneath him. Kanda was watching him calmly, those cobalt eyes were clear and aware. Allen was almost scared of doing the rest of what was in his head. Almost.

He stripped as deliberately as he could, letting each piece fall to the ground with agonizing slowness. Allen winced slightly as his erection was released, he didn't know how much longer he could ignore his own need.

Now fully naked, Allen returned to the bed, kneeling between Kanda's legs, while the samurai was internally cursing how well Allen could tie knots. He placed a single kiss on the samurai's lips, effectively stopping his struggling. Then he worked his way down Kanda's neck to his chest, not stopping until he was once again in position above the man's erection.

He hesitated briefly. Kanda was definitely going to make him pay for what he was planning. Deciding he could take whatever punishment the samurai could give, Allen took the man's length in his mouth.

Kanda's patience snapped then, Allen's hands firmly holding his hips in place were all that was keeping him from accidentally choking the neko with his thrusts. Like earlier, Allen released him seconds before he came. Only this time the action was immediately followed by his hair tie being knotted around his member. Now he wouldn't be able to experience release until the neko let him. He finally found his voice. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing, Moyashi?"

Allen's response was to capture the samurai's lips so that he couldn't speak anymore. While the pair kissed, Allen began running his tail along the inside of Kanda's thigh. If he was going to be stuck with that thing then he was going to use it; the first step was to figure out exactly what it could do to Kanda.

Kanda was pissed. A little bit at Allen for tying him up, but mostly at himself for letting things go that far. He should have never let the boy take the lead. He had wanted to make the neko his once again, but now he was stuck under him. And honestly, he was by far the most pissed at the part of himself that was enjoying it.

Because he _was_ enjoying it. The fire pulsing through his veins was too strong. He couldn't get enough of the neko's kisses, couldn't get their bare chests close enough together. And the fur of Allen's tail brushing slowly against his skin only made the already intense pleasure grow.

Allen broke away from Kanda's lips, pulling back so that he was once again kneeling between the samurai's legs. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and began coating them in saliva, making the mistake of looking at Kanda's face in the process.

"Hurry the fuck up and _untie me_ , Moyashi." It was a demand, not a request, and it certainly wasn't begging. Kanda Yuu did not beg for anything. Not even sex from his lover when he was blissed out of his mind.

Allen was not surprised that Kanda wanted to be released. But he was confused as to why the samurai wasn't fighting back. Hadn't he said that there was no way in hell he'd let Allen top him again?

Confusion wasn't going to stop him though, and his slicked fingers found Kanda's entrance. Allen wasted no time in stretching the samurai, not even bothering to find his prostate before removing his fingers.

Kanda couldn't help crying out when Allen thrust into him. He was too far gone to even think about muffling his sounds, all he cared about was getting the release that the neko was denying him. He rolled his hips to meet Allen's thrusts, crying out yet again as the neko's member hit his prostate.

Allen reveled in the strangled noises Kanda was making. Knowing that he was near his end, and that torturing the samurai any more would be deadly, Allen paused his movement for one brief moment to remove the cord from Kanda's erection.

They came within seconds of each other, Kanda practically screaming at achieving the release he'd been denied. Allen pulled out and collapsed beside the samurai, his eyelids fluttering closed as his breathing returned to a steady rhythm.

The neko yelped as he was suddenly kicked off the bed. He looked up to see Kanda glaring at him. "Oi, Moyashi. Untie me before you pass out."

Allen slowly climbed back onto the bed and undid the knot that was holding the samurai's wrists in place. He was immediately thrown onto his back as Kanda flipped them over. Their faces were less than a centimeter apart, and the Japanese man was angry and growling at him. Allen cringed. His whole body went stiff as he waited for Kanda to get on with his punishment. The samurai merely kissed the neko once and rolled off of him. "Don't do that again."

"Huh? Don't do _what_ again?"

Kanda felt like laughing at how sincerely innocent Allen's voice was, the sudden naïveté was a sharp contrast to what had just happened. "If you wanted to be on top, all you had to do was say so. There was no need to tie me up. And that trick with my hair tie? That was just low. Don't do it again."

Allen had no clue how to respond to what he'd just been told. Especially when it was followed by Kanda wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him closer. "But you said-"

"Moyashi." Kanda kissed the top of his head, and spoke into his hair. "There are a lot of things I've said that just aren't true. I've been pretending to hate you for years."

Allen shook his head, his ear unintentionally flicking Kanda in the face. "But this was just the other day. You said you'd never let me be on top again."

Kanda laughed once. "I was _lying_ , Moyashi."

"Oh." Allen blinked a few times. "I guess that explains why you didn't fight back."

It was Kanda's turn to be confused. "You wanted me to?"

"Not really." Allen rolled onto his side and began idly tracing his fingers along the samurai's bare chest. "More like, it was what I had expected you to do. I never thought you would just let me do all that without a fight."

Kanda tightened his grip on the neko's waist. "And _I_ never thought you'd do all that." He laughed lightly at the hiss Allen gave him. "Not like that, Moyashi. I forgot that when I let my guard down around you, you do something completely unexpected. After the day you had, I thought I'd have to work to convince you to have sex with me; I didn't expect you to just take the lead like that."

"Then you're not mad at me?" Allen was still confused as to why Kanda was so calm.

"If you pull that stunt with my hair tie again I will be." Kanda snorted. "But otherwise..."

He rolled over and pulled Allen into his chest, his free hand moving to scratch the neko's ear. "You're here, in my bed, of your own free will. And that's all that matters."

"But... what about..."

"Alma?"

Allen sighed. That hadn't crossed his mind at all, but now that the subject had been brought up it was going to drive him crazy. "...Yeah."

"I know you know that he was the woman I loved." His hand on Allen's waist moved to find the scar from the incident. He traced the lines with his fingers. "But there's more to the story than that."

Allen waited with bated breath for Kanda to continue. "My memories of that time are really broken up, I don't even remember her name. But I do remember the way she used to tease me that I was only with her out of convenience. She always joked that I'd leave her behind once I met the right man."

Kanda laughed briefly at Allen's gasp. "I didn't understand it at the time. I swore up and down to her that I wasn't gay, but she'd just laugh and say I'd understand eventually. And then you came around...

"Alma knew it was you too." If Allen didn't know better he would have thought that Kanda sounded choked up. "We talked about it after you sent us away...

 _'That's him, isn't it, Yuu?'_

 _'Hmm? What are you talking about?'_

 _'That boy. He's the one you truly love, the one you'd have left me to be with, isn't he?'_

 _I sighed. '...Yeah. But he hates me so there's no point in dwelling on it.'_

 _Alma laughed at that. 'He doesn't hate you. He wouldn't have risked all that for you if he didn't care about you.'_

 _'Che. He's a soft hearted idiot. He cares about everything.'_

 _'Not like that. He just committed treason for you. You don't do that for just anybody.'_

 _'Che. The Moyashi would.'_

 _'"Moyashi"?' More laughter. 'You must really love him if you bothered to give him a nickname.'_

 _'... I never thought about it like that.'_

 _'Well I'm glad you found him. I'm disappointed that it wasn't me... But then... I always knew it wasn't... And at least... I got to meet him in the end...'"_

Allen was laughing by the time Kanda was done telling the story. Not uproariously, just something light that showed how he appreciated Kanda's honesty. "So you two were kinda like me and Lenalee. I feel better now. Thanks for telling me that."

His attempt to kiss the samurai was blocked by the man tugging on his hair. "What's that woman got to do with anything? Explain yourself, Moyashi."

Allen sighed and pulled Kanda's hand from his head. "Relax, Yuu. It's basically the same as what you just finished saying." He wove his fingers between the other man's. "She knows I'm gay. She's tried a couple times to convince me to go out with her anyway, but I could never do that to her."

There was a long moment of silence before Kanda spoke. "Well, now that that's settled... It's time for payback." He suddenly flipped Allen onto his back, pulling the boy's hands above his head and tying them to the headboard with the ribbon that still lay there.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

Kanda smirked down at the neko underneath him. "I told you: payback."

Allen's eyes went wide. "But I thought you said you weren't mad!"

"I'm not." Kanda's smirk widened. "But it's only fair that I get you at my mercy now..."

If the rest of the Order weren't in the habit of avoiding the samurai's hallway, someone might have heard the noises Allen made as Kanda played with his body. Every time Kanda thought the neko was being too quiet he'd bite the spot he was currently teasing, and make Allen scream out his pleasure.

Allen could have easily removed his hands from the bonds, but he played along. The things Kanda was doing to him were too wonderful, and he didn't want to risk making the touchy samurai stop.

After what seemed like an eternity, the haze of pleasure was broken by a finger pressing into his entrance. It was swiftly followed by another. The digits weren't focused on stretching him, but rather on finding a certain spot inside of him.

Kanda smirked when Allen cried out. Then he pressed against the spot repeatedly until the neko couldn't take any more. He pulled his fingers out before Allen came, salivating at the way the neko whined at the loss. He debated torturing the neko some more, but his own throbbing erection could no longer be ignored. Adjusting Allen's position to get a better angle, Kanda positioned himself at the teen's entrance and thrust into him.

Allen's body met every one of Kanda's thrusts, his head was too far gone for conscious thought. Unable to take any more, the neko came when Kanda's length hit his prostate. Kanda struggled to thrust against the spasming passage, but he too gave in and found his release.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N: When I first started posting this story, I had eight chapters written and it was taking me about nine days to write a chapter. I figured that at that pace I would finish writing the story before I ran out of chapters to post. It took me SEVEN WEEKS to write this chapter. SEVEN WEEKS. That's how much of a pain this lemon was to write. .

Unfortunately for you all that means that this is the last chapter to be posted on the weekly schedule. You'll see chapter ten in two weeks.


	10. Chapter 10

The next two weeks passed in much the same manner as that first full day back at the Order. Every morning Kanda would go off to do his general's duties; he would return around dinner time, and then the lovers' evenings would be spent on some combination of talking and having sex. To the Order nothing was different: unless Kanda had a specific mission he would always take advantage of the ark to come home for his soba and to sleep in his own bed. No one needed to know that a certain white haired neko was now his real reason for returning so often.

When Kanda wasn't around, Allen was training. With each day that passed he grew more accustomed to the changes to his body. He no longer had to put conscious thought into not sitting on his tail, and he had come to enjoy, albeit a little begrudgingly, his heightened senses. He was still embarrassed by how he looked, but the need to hide his ears and tail from the rest of the Order had faded.

But at the end of those two weeks things started to change. Lavi became the first of their friends to discover that Allen's changes weren't solely physical. The redhead had returned from a mission and was dying of curiosity about how much progress Allen had made in his absence. He went straight to the training room where he knew the neko would be.

The room was quiet when he entered, Allen was nowhere to be seen. Lavi stepped further inside, glimpsing a bit of white on the floor on the other side of the room. Thinking the teen had passed out, the redhead ran to his side.

He stopped short once he got a better look at the neko. Allen was curled up in a ball, lying in a pool of sunlight from one of the windows. His tail was wrapped around his body and his ears were twitching slightly in his sleep. The teen was merely napping, exactly like a cat would.

Lavi tried and failed to keep himself from laughing at the sight. He squatted down beside the neko and reached out to pet Allen's ears. His hand was batted away immediately. The light laughter had woken Allen. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry." Lavi scooted away quickly. The redhead watched in fascination as Allen sat up, yawning and stretching, still acting exactly like a cat would. "Exactly how deep did that curse go?"

Allen blinked at the question, unaware of how catlike his behavior was. "What do you mean?"

"You're acting like a cat, Allen."

Allen froze in the middle of smoothing out his hair. He collapsed back to the floor with a groan. "What was I doing this time?"

Lavi chose to ignore the reference to a previous event, he could get that information later. "You were sleeping in a pool of sunlight, and when you woke up you started stretching and grooming yourself." At the look on the neko's face, Lavi laughed. "It was way too adorable."

Allen groaned again and pushed himself up onto his feet. "At least I wasn't purring."

The comment was said under his breath, but Lavi caught it. "You purr? Oh man, I've gotta hear that."

He was unprepared for Allen's reaction to his careless comment, and ended up splayed out on the ground when his left foot was kicked out from under him. Allen hissed at the redhead, his ears laying flat against his head. Lavi scrambled away from the angry neko.

Allen suddenly sighed and sat back down. "Look. I don't like the purring. It's the part of all this that I hate the most." He narrowed his eyes at the redhead. "So can you _not_ do whatever it is you're planning, and just leave it alone?"

"Fine. But I promise that I will not give up on my desire to hear you purr."

Given what he'd just learned, Lavi wasn't shocked when Allen stormed out of the room without a word. What was surprising was that by the time dinner rolled around the neko was still nowhere to be found.

.x.x.

Lavi was making a fuss when I returned to the Order. The Moyashi clearly wasn't in the cafeteria, given that that was the reason the redhead was being loud and annoying, so I chose to pass on dinner and do some meditation until things had quieted down.

I stopped at my room to drop off my jacket, only to discover the missing neko asleep on my bed. I stood in the doorway a moment, admiring the strong yet slender body of my lover, before a troubling thought hit me. I strode over to the bed and roughly shook Allen awake. "Oi Moyashi! How the fuck did you get into my room?"

Allen bolted upright, the fur on his ears and tail bristling. "Damn, Bakanda. That's not a nice way to wake someone."

I narrowed my eyes and growled at him. "Answer the question Moyashi."

"I picked the lock." The Moyashi yawned and lay back down.

I blinked at the completely innocent way Allen was acting. He didn't seem to realize that he had invaded my privacy. I said the only thing that I could think of. "...Why?"

He shrugged. "I wanted a nap."

"So you broke into my room?"

"It made sense at the time." He looked up at me with a serious expression on his face. "All I really remember is thinking that your bed would smell like you."

I snorted, a sound that could almost pass for laughter. I sat down beside the Moyashi, rubbing his ears. He started purring immediately, leaning into the touch. "You're such a _cat,_ Moyashi."

Allen gave me a strange look. "Lavi said something similar this afternoon." He winced. "I wonder..."

When the sentence went unfinished I gave him a nudge. "You wonder what, Moyashi?"

He sighed. Whatever was bothering him was eating at him enough that the purring stopped. When he finally spoke it was slow, like he was scared of what he was saying. "I've been like this for two weeks. And I've started to act more and more like a cat. Maybe... ...Maybe the curse is getting stronger. Maybe whatever my Innocence did is wearing off. Maybe-"

I laughed. For some reason hearing him panic like that was funny. I pulled the pillow out from under Allen's head and slammed it into the neko's face. "Calm down, Moyashi. Stop thinking so hard. It'll give you a headache."

Allen grabbed the pillow and threw it at me, but I caught it in midair. "You're just stressed and tired, Moyashi. You haven't been sleeping well."

"I have too!"

"Moyashi. We've been sleeping in the same bed. I know it's true." I smacked the Moyashi with the pillow again when the neko stuck his tongue out at me. "It's _good_ that you're acting more like a cat. It means that you're getting used to this thing. And that means you're one step closer to getting your life back on track."

I stood up off the bed and dragged the neko with me, silencing his protest with a serious look. "Now, you can either listen to me and go get dinner like normal, or you can go see Komui and have him examine you and tell you exactly what I just did. Your choice, Moyashi."

He just stared at me. It was one of those moments where I really wondered what on earth was going through his head. Even with how close we had become since admitting our feelings, I had no hope of understanding that boy.

"Thank you, Yuu." His arms were suddenly around my neck and his lips were pressed into mine.

I could have kissed him forever, but after only a few seconds his stomach rumbled. I laughed as I shoved him away. "Really, Moyashi?"

"Yes, really." He hit me playfully in the side. "Komui said that until my Innocence is back to full strength I'd probably be hungrier than usual."

"Then go eat." I pushed him out of the room.

He looked sad when he turned around. "You're not coming?"

I rolled my eyes as I closed the door. I heard what sounded like a strangled sob, like the Moyashi was trying not to cry. _He couldn't really be_ that _stupid, could he?_ I hissed through the door at him. "Baka. Our relationship is supposed to be a _secret,_ remember?"

"Damn it." There was a thump against the door. I could practically see the Moyashi banging his head out of how stupid he felt. "Any chance you can forget that just happened?"

I laughed at the request. "Go eat. I'll catch up with you in a little bit."

.x.x.

After Lavi finished fussing over Allen's disappearance, dinner passed uneventfully. Kanda and Lenalee both joined the pair over the course of the meal, and the conversation contained nothing out of the ordinary. Until Allen accidentally let it slip that he hadn't activated his Innocence since he'd been sidelined. His friends let it pass at the time, but the second the food was gone, Allen found himself physically dragged into the training room.

"Come on guys, it's not that big of a deal! I'm just letting it rest!"

Lenalee laughed. "I seem to remember you using that excuse a couple years ago... right before you broke it!"

"This is a completely different situation!" Allen began to make his way toward the door.

"I was there when you talked to Hevlaska, Bean Sprout." Lavi blocked the door so Allen couldn't leave. "Your synchro rate is part of the problem. You need to activate your weapon if you want your condition to improve."

Allen's tail thrashed behind him as he hissed in frustration. He would never say it out loud, but he was scared.

Lavi continued talking, but he really should have shut up. "Come on Kitty, you just-"

The sentence was never finished. Allen punched him in the nose before the rest of the words were out. "Don't call me that!"

As he clutched his bleeding nose, Lavi looked around for sympathy, but didn't get any. Kanda was leaning against the wall, as cold and impassive as ever (though inwardly he was grinning with pride for his Moyashi). Lenalee rolled her eyes at the redhead. "Really Lavi, you should have known better."

She tentatively placed a hand on Allen's shoulder and led the angry neko further into the room. "We're not asking you to spar or do anything fancy. We just want you to activate it. We're worried about you and want to make sure you're recovering properly."

"Fine. Let's just get this over with." Allen grumbled as he stalked to the center of the room. He turned around to face the others, and activated his Innocence. "There. Are you satisfied now?"

Lavi's eye widened. He said something that may have been "oh shit!", but with the bleeding nose it was hard to tell. With his Innocence activated, and giving the general area a death glare, Allen looked terrifying. And Lavi was the reason the neko was pissed off. He did the only smart thing and fled.

Allen's anger faded to confusion over Lavi's reaction. Kanda snickered at the look on the neko's face. "I told you the other day Moyashi: you really need to see your reflection."

Lenalee nodded and hurried out of the room. "Stay right there, I'll go get a mirror."

The door slammed closed behind her, the sudden exit only confusing Allen more. He finally turned his gaze to Kanda. "Don't give me that look Moyashi. I'm going to end up jumping you if you don't knock it off."

He approached Allen carefully, the last thing he wanted to do was startle the neko and get his face clawed off. When he decided that he was close enough, Kanda reached out and grabbed Allen's right hand, pulling it up into the teen's field of vision.

Allen gaped at his human hand. It was covered in the white fabric of his Innocence, like he expected, but his fingernails had become razor sharp claws. They were about an inch long, and the same black as his Innocence hand, which made that tiny portion of his brain that wasn't freaking out wonder if they would be useful fighting akuma.

Acting on impulse, Allen willed the claws to retract, and they did. The action was repeated, and the claws once again slid into view. He was so stunned that when Kanda let go, the hand fell limply to his side. There was one more item for the list of ways he'd become more like a cat.

Steeling himself, Allen slowly moved his Innocence hand into his line of sight and looked it over critically. It wasn't all that different from how it normally looked, black claws edged in silver. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but they were definitely giving off a deadlier vibe than they did before.

He looked up to see Kanda smirking at him. Before he could say anything though, Lenalee came back. Seeing that Allen had calmed down, she approached him without fear. She offered him the hand mirror, but he didn't take it. Lenalee couldn't help laughing at the terrified look on Allen's face. "Come on Allen, it's not that bad."

"Oh really? Then why are you all acting like you're scared of me?"

Kanda scoffed, then smacked Allen upside the head. "Baka. Just take the mirror."

Allen stuck his tongue out at Kanda and kicked the samurai in the shin. Lenalee rolled her eyes and forcibly shoved the two apart. "Boys! Knock it off! This isn't the time for that!"

Lenalee focused her ferocity on Allen as he tried to escape. She thrust the mirror into his chest and glared at him. "Allen. Look at your reflection. Now."

Allen frowned and took the mirror. He didn't want to look, and not just because he was scared; he had been avoiding his reflection ever since he had become a neko. But he knew that Kanda was aware of those feelings. And that his lover would actually make him look if he took to long to do it himself. So he took a deep breath and turned the mirror around.

It was nowhere near as bad as he was expecting it to be. From the way Lavi had run from the room, Allen figured something was horribly wrong. But his reflection was mostly normal. The sharp canine teeth were strange to see, but he knew that they would be there. His white hair was spiked up, as was the fur covering his ears. Their existence was much more obvious this way, they looked almost twice their usual size.

But it was his eyes that caught his attention. His pupils were catlike slits, and the silver irises were tinged with just enough Innocence green to make them glow slightly. There was no denying that they were more cat than human.

Allen sighed and handed the mirror back to Lenalee, deactivating his Innocence in the process. He couldn't look any longer. He left the training room without a word. Lenalee followed after him. "Allen. It's going to be ok. You-"

He slammed the door behind him, effectively keeping her from following him into the hall. It wasn't just that he was upset, he was tired of her treating him like he was fragile. She had been doing it ever since he got turned into a neko, and he was sick and tired of it. She was his best friend, she was supposed to know better.

.x.x.

Lenalee gaped at the closed door that she had almost collided with. I couldn't resist scoffing at her. She turned around and narrowed her eyes defensively at me. "What?"

I walked to the door and forcibly moved her out of my way. "If you really want to help, go find that idiotic rabbit. He's going to need someone to explain to him that it was his own damn fault the Moyashi broke his nose."

Before I walked away, I paused. The Chinese girl may have been like my obnoxious little sister, but she was my Moyashi's best friend. Treating her too roughly would only come back to bite me. Yet I knew that _he_ would never tell her to back off. "The brat's not made of glass. Stop treating him like he's going to fall apart if you say the wrong thing."

I left Lenalee standing there, gaping like a fish. I knew she was fixating on the fact that _I_ had said something civil about Allen, but I didn't care. I was just happy that I got my point across without physical violence. Plus there were more pressing matters to attend to.

Namely my erection that was becoming harder by the second. I couldn't stop picturing my Moyashi breaking the redheaded moron's nose. I had never felt more attracted to him. I needed to find him, and fast.


	11. Chapter 11

After the incident in the training room, I was in serious need of comforting. And I knew I wouldn't get it from Kanda. Not when he'd already comforted me earlier that day. Once was already a fluke. Twice was too much to hope for.

I was also a little hungry. My Innocence had only been activated for ten minutes, and I hadn't even done anything with it. Yet from the way it drained me, it felt like I had just finished sparring with one of my friends. It obviously still had more recovering to do.

So I went to the cafeteria and ordered a whole lot of dango. I took it back to my room so that I could be alone, eating as I walked. But my favorite food did little to make me feel better. Not after everything that had happened in the past two weeks. Not now that I knew that Kanda loved me. It was his comfort that I really wanted. Food was a poor substitute.

I nearly dropped the plate when I opened my door. Kanda was sitting on my bed. He looked incredibly awkward, like he didn't know what he was doing there. It was weird to see him without his self-confidence. But if there was ever proof that he loved me, that was it. I was allowed to see him nervous. Even if it was only for a few seconds. He was back to his usual self by the time the door was fully open. "You really should lock your door Moyashi. You never know who might come in and go through your stuff."

"What stuff? I don't have anything other than clothes." I laughed lightly as I closed and locked the door.

I was pressed against the wall the second I set my plate down. Kanda's face was so close to mine that our noses were touching. He looked so gorgeous up close like that. His eyes narrowed in mock anger. "I can't get you back for invading my privacy if you don't care about your own."

Then he was kissing me. His body pressed mine further into the wall as we made out. My hands found his ponytail, pulling out the tie so that his hair fell down around us. The kiss was wonderful, tasting of my two favorite things: Kanda and the dango I had just finished eating.

He made a face as he pulled away. I couldn't help whining a little. "Come back... You taste so good."

"Well you taste awful." Kanda wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "What on earth did you eat last?"

I stuck my tongue out at him and shoved him away. Then I moved to sit on the bed, picking up the last stick of dango from the plate as I passed it. He did nothing but glare at me as I slowly and deliberately ate every last morsel. It wasn't until I was licking the stick clean that Kanda finally moved.

He yanked the stick out of my mouth and tossed it aside. "Cut out the teasing, Moyashi. It's time for you to answer for what you did earlier."

"Are you still stuck on me breaking into your room? I really didn't do anything other than sleep. Honest."

The look Kanda gave me was weird. "Are you even aware that you broke Lavi's nose when you hit him earlier?"

"What?!" I was off the bed in a flash, planning to track the redhead down and apologize.

Kanda's arms around my waist stopped me before I even made it two steps. "There's no need to apologize to that moron. It was his own damn fault. Right, ' _Kitty_ '?"

I froze completely. I knew Kanda was only reminding me why I had hit Lavi in the first place, but getting called _that_ made me furious. It was hard not to hit Kanda for saying it.

His grip on my waist tightened. He leaned over slightly so he could whisper in my ear. "It's me you should apologize to, Allen. Getting me that hard in public, and then going off and eating _sweets_ instead of taking responsibility for it..."

I was thrown onto the bed, too stunned by Kanda's words to even realize what was happening. He had my shirt completely unbuttoned before I could find my tongue to voice my confusion. "Why would me hitting Lavi _arouse_ you?"

Kanda left off kissing my neck to look at me. I blinked at the earnest glint in his cobalt eyes. "You usually let that moronic rabbit walk all over you. I very much enjoyed seeing you stand up to him like that."

He barely gave me time to process the answer. His lips returned to my neck and his hands slid my pants off my hips. I couldn't hold in the moans as he began stroking my hardening length.

Kanda's lips never left my skin. He trailed kisses down my collar bone until he reached one of my nipples. He attacked it viciously causing me to cry out. His free hand slid under my back and I could feel his fingers searching for something. I couldn't think clearly enough to realize what until I felt him make contact with the base of my tail. His fingers wrapped around my tail, simultaneously tugging on it and rubbing the spot where it protruded from my back. The feeling was so overwhelmingly fantastic that it caused my half-assed attempt to remove his shirt to fail.

I couldn't see anything but white anymore, but I could feel Kanda smirk into my chest. His hands grew rougher in his ministrations. My moans were embarrassingly loud and catlike, and I knew I was drooling, but I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't even make my arms move from where they lay sprawled out on the bed.

After a particularly hard yank on my tail, I came in Kanda's hand. He gave me no time to recover, flipping me over onto my stomach immediately. I was only vaguely aware of his fingers pressing into me. His other hand stayed firmly on my tail, keeping me distracted until he pressed his fingers against that bundle of nerves inside me.

I screamed. Loudly. The pleasure was all I could concentrate on. I was completely unaware of everything else, barely even registering that I had released myself once more.

He finally let go of my tail, and while the loss of that euphoric feeling was sad, I was thankful to be aware of my surroundings again. Kanda's hands were firmly gripping my hips, and he was kissing me between my shoulder blades. "Are you back in the land of the living, Moyashi?"

I tried to reply but it came out as an incoherent gurgle. My body felt like jelly, I couldn't move a single muscle. Kanda smirked at my reaction, or rather, my lack of reaction. "Good to see I'm not the only one your tail affects. Though if I had known you were going to do that I'd have played with it a lot sooner."

I willed something to move, so that I could hit him. But all I got was my tail pathetically whacking his side. Kanda laughed the weak attempt off. His hands lifted my hips a few inches off the bed, and then he was thrusting his length inside me.

"Oh god! Yuu!" I cried out at the feeling of him filling me. I would never tell him, it was just too cheesy and girly, but there was something wonderful in how perfectly he fit inside me.

Kanda snickered. "So your voice does still work, Moyashi."

"Sh-shut up, Bakanda." The words were too breathy to have the desired effect.

But I wasn't given the chance to care. Kanda took the words to mean that I was ready and pulled out of me. He set a pace that was fast and hard. And I don't know how, but I found the strength to rock my hips in time with his thrusts.

I lost myself in pleasure once again when he changed angles and began ramming into my prostate. This time when I came it was followed by Kanda releasing deep inside me.

.x.x.

The next morning I woke up alone in bed. I briefly felt sad that Kanda hadn't come back after his meditation, but it was better that way. I needed the chance to recover from the previous night's activities, and if he was there I would have been fighting off his advances. I got dressed slowly, taking care not to stretch my sore muscles too far.

When that was done, I headed to breakfast. Lavi was there, his nose covered in bandages. He didn't notice me, and I was too nervous to face him, so I ignored him and got in line to order food.

Of course with my heightened senses, I could still hear him. He was regaling the surrounding finders with a tale of how he'd broken his nose in a horrific training accident. I didn't care much for the sensationalized story, but I was somewhat thankful for it. There was no need for anyone to know what really happened.

I wouldn't get that wish though. As soon as Lavi was finished with his fictional account, Lenalee smacked him upside the head. She glared at him and the finders who were listening to him. "That's not even remotely close to what really happened. You pissed off Allen and he punched you in the face."

The entire cafeteria froze at her words. I didn't have to turn around to know that they were all avoiding looking at me. One of the finders spoke to Lenalee. "Isn't that a little out of character for Allen? Are you sure it wasn't Kanda?"

"I'm positive." She hit Lavi again. "This idiot should have known better than to call Allen 'kitty'. Right, Allen?"

Lavi jumped visibly at her words. He looked around frantically trying to find me. I didn't know whether to feel sad or proud at the scared look on his face. It was that moment when what Kanda had said the night before clicked for me. I really did have a tendency to let Lavi have his way at my own expense.

I smiled briefly at Lenalee. She clearly saw the situation the same way Kanda did, so maybe he was right in saying that I didn't need to apologize. The finders fled as I approached their table.

Lavi smiled nervously at me as I sat down beside Lenalee. "Hey buddy. How come you didn't visit me in the infirmary last night? I thought you'd come apologize for what happened."

"I was told to hit you again if you asked for an apology." He paled instantly at my deadpan expression. After a moment I sighed. "Look. I'll apologize for breaking your nose. It wasn't my intention for that to happen. But I'm not going to apologize for hitting you."

"And you shouldn't." Lenalee wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "He's the one who should be apologizing."

Lavi and I both blinked at her. She made a face at us. "Oh come on Lavi. You're the one who's been telling everyone to be careful of Allen's mental state. And then you went and said _that_. How stupid can you get?"

"You're right, you're right. You can stop talking now." Lavi turned to me and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Allen. I was careless, I shouldn't have called you that."

"Tha-" A sudden thought hit me. "Wait. What's wrong with my mental state?"

Lenalee made an annoyed sound. "Absolutely nothing. He's just being a moron. He-"

"Hey!" Lavi interrupted. "Yesterday you agreed with me. Why am I suddenly a moron?"

I glared at them both before trying to move away. But Lenalee tightened her grip on my shoulders. "I'm sorry Allen, you just seemed really fragile. Like if we didn't treat you carefully you might break. Anyway, after last night, that's clearly not true."

Her arm fell from my shoulder and she clasped her hands in her lap. From the look on her face she had more to say, so I waited for her to finish. "I guess that's why you've been spending so much time with Kanda. He's the only one who hasn't been treating you differently."

I almost couldn't hold in my reaction. There was no way I could explain to them just how differently Kanda was treating me. I certainly couldn't tell them that he had fucked my brains out the night before. "Hmm. I hadn't thought about it like that."

They were looking at me weird, but my food had arrived so I ignored the looks and dug into it. I practically inhaled the food, which was nothing new, but the way they continued to give me strange looks was.

.x.x.

After breakfast, Lavi and I dragged Allen to the library. He protested, saying that he needed to go train. But we were able to convince him that he'd been pushing himself too hard, and that he needed a break.

He moped the entire way down the hallway. It was adorable watching _Allen_ act like a little kid. The drooping ears and tail didn't help. I could see why Lavi kept comparing him to a kitten. And it didn't help that I was crushing on him again.

It took Allen over an hour to get settled. He kept moving from chair to chair, changing positions several times before getting up and moving to the next spot. It was definitely a cat thing, but there was so much of Allen in it. Hanging out in the library was far from his favorite activity. He wasn't much of a reader. Not because he didn't like it, but because he struggled with it. Growing up on the streets didn't exactly give him a great education. It was a secret I made sure to keep from Lavi. If the redhead ever found out that Timothy could read better than Allen, a very bad kind of chaos would ensue.

Eventually Allen settled down on the window seat. The room got quiet and I lost myself in my book. A little while later I was pulled out of my fantasy land by a strange rumbling sound. At first I thought it was Allen's stomach, but this was too soft and too constant to be that abrasive racket.

Putting my book down, I sat up and looked around. Allen had moved from the window, and was now curled up on a couch beside Lavi. It was obvious that the neko was asleep, but that wasn't too surprising. He looked like he had barely slept the night before.

I registered that the sound was Allen purring in his sleep around the same time that I noticed that Lavi was playing with Allen's ears. I moved towards them as silently as I could. "What do you think you're doing, Lavi? He'll kill you if he wakes up to find you _petting_ him."

"He better not. It's his own fault." I gave Lavi a look, I didn't believe that for a second. "He kept complaining that his ears itched and he wouldn't sit still. It was driving me crazy; I don't like getting interrupted while I'm reading. I told him to shut up, but he just kept begging for attention. I started scratching his ear and he was asleep within seconds. Now go away, I don't want to wake him. I'm enjoying hearing him purr."

I gave him another look, but I went back to my spot. I didn't get why Lavi was so excited, but Allen clearly needed the rest so I let them be.

It was lunchtime when I next got interrupted. Allen's stomach had been going crazy for a good ten minutes. The noise was getting annoying. I looked up to find him still asleep on Lavi's lap. "God, Lavi! Wake him up already!"

"I'm trying! He won't budge!"

I went over for a closer look, and Allen was definitely out like a light. Getting an idea, I sat casually on the back of the couch. I activated my Innocence, hooked my feet under Allen, and kicked him to the floor. He hit the ground and rolled a coupled times. I quickly deactivated my Innocence when he started to groan. "Owww… How'd I end up on the floor?"

"We had to resort to violence to wake you up. Your stomach has been driving us crazy."

Allen winced and rubbed his lower back as he sat up. Even after napping all morning he still looked exhausted. "Sorry. I'll go down to the cafeteria."

As he started to walk away, a thought hit me. "Hey Allen?"

"Yeah?" He turned around to look at me.

"How late were you and Kanda up last night?"

Allen blinked. I couldn't tell if he was confused or embarrassed. "What are you talking about?"

"You two have been spending your evenings sparring, right? How long did you go at it yesterday?" It was going to be several months before I would learn that I had just asked Allen a completely inappropriate question.

He immediately got defensive. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You just seem really tired lately. Maybe all that late night training is doing more harm than good."


	12. Chapter 12

After lunch, I managed to slip away from my friends. What Lenalee had said in the library was really bothering me. I had been able to determine that she actually thought we were training, and wasn't using it as a euphemism like I had initially thought. And while that eased the panic I was feeling, it left a troubling question behind: was it really possible that having sex with Kanda every night was hindering my progress?

I found myself outside in the garden. It was a little chilly given that it was the middle of October, but it wasn't on the list of places where my friends would look for me. I wandered aimlessly around, lost in thought.

When dinner time rolled around, I let my hunger lead me back inside. Aside from a massive headache, all I had accomplished was deciding that I needed to talk to Kanda. I was scared to do that though. He wasn't going to react well to what I was going to say.

Dinner wasn't the place for that conversation though. Not with Lenalee and Lavi around. As it had been since Lavi returned from his last mission, the conversation that night was "how much can we embarrass Allen?" It was getting really old. At least they seemed to be running out of topics.

Or that's what I thought until Lenalee opened her mouth. "Hey Kanda, I mentioned this to Allen earlier, but I need to tell you too. Let him sleep tonight. There's no need for the two of you to be up half the night sparring."

Kanda's chopsticks snapped in half. A finder walking by dropped his tray. All activity around us stopped as everyone turned their attention towards Lenalee. She blinked. "What?"

I buried my head in my hands and groaned. "Could you _please_ word that differently? _Please_?"

"Why? What's wrong with how I worded it?"

Lavi made a weird noise, and it took a second for me to realize that the bandages on his broken nose had garbled his laughter. "It sounded like you were talking about sex."

"Really? That's disgusting. You men need to get your heads out of the gutter." Lenalee glared at everyone until they went back to their food.

When we were no longer the center of attention, Lenalee turned hers back to Kanda. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is that Allen has been pushing himself too hard. He trains by himself all day, and then when you get home he goes off and trains with you. He needs to get some sleep."

Kanda scoffed. "That's not my problem. And you're underestimating the brat. From what I see he's not pushing himself hard enough."

I blinked at Kanda, trying and failing to read the expression on his face. "What's that supposed to mean, Bakanda?"

"You're being a wuss, Moyashi."

"Take that back!" I slammed my hands on the table as I stood up.

"I will not." He stared up at me without moving. "When you lost your arm, you fought with Fou for so long that she couldn't keep up her form anymore. And now you're so tired that you can't keep up with your _normal_ routine? That's pathetic."

I didn't know how to react to that. If we were alone I could have conceded that he had a point, but in the middle of the cafeteria...

"Allen. Sit down." The look in Lenalee's eyes said to do as I was told or there would be trouble. "And you, Kanda, I was talking about _tonight_ , not in general. There was no need for you to go off on Allen like that. Apologize."

"Hell no! I don't want an apology from that bastard!"

My outburst came at the same time as Kanda's retort. "Mind your own business, woman."

We glared at each other for a brief moment, then Kanda threw his busted chopsticks down on his tray of half eaten soba and stormed off. His body language told me to fuck off, but his eyes said that we needed to talk in private.

He made it to the cafeteria doors right as General Teidoll arrived. We all laughed as the samurai was wrapped in a tight hug and dragged from the room. So much for talking to him after dinner. It would take him a couple hours to get free of his former teacher. There were some things Kanda's promotion couldn't change.

While I had initially been jealous over what I imagined training under someone like Teidoll would be like, that feeling had passed. Sure Teidoll was nice, but I knew better now. Training under him would have been just as much of a hell as training under Cross was, albeit a different kind of hell. I knew Kanda was in for a stressful evening, and felt bad for my lover.

Marie and Miranda came and sat with us after they got their food. We talked about the things they had done while accompanying Teidoll. It was an incredibly nice change of subject.

For about twenty minutes.

That's how long it took Miranda to work up the courage to ask me about my cat ears. She waited until the other three were deep in conversation, then leaned closer to me. "Umm... Allen? Why are you wearing cat ears?"

I sighed and set my fork down. "That's right, you've been gone for a while, you wouldn't have heard about what happened." I gave her a half smile. "I kind of got turned into a cat."

"You mean they're real?!" When I nodded, her confused look morphed into one of disbelief. But that soon faded to something hesitant. "Can... Can I ... touch them?"

"Sure..." I didn't have the heart to tell her no. Plus it was Miranda, she was probably the closest thing I had to a mother, there wasn't any reason to be afraid of her.

She reached out hesitantly, and her hand stopped a ways away. I tilted my head towards her to show that I really was ok with her touching me. Her fingers felt really different from Kanda's or Lavi's, their touch was so light and gentle.

I smiled at the shocked look on her face. My ears moved with the expression, causing Miranda to gasp and pull her hand away. She gave me a smile, but it was forced, and I knew it was because she would never say out loud that my ears creeped her out. "I know. It's weird. I've had them for two weeks and I'm still not used to it."

"Two weeks?" The confused look was back. "Then you weren't hit with one of Komui-san's potions?"

I sighed. "No. This is the work of my Innocence. I got cursed by a witch, it intervened, and this is how I ended up."

"Ah. So that's why your heart rate is so different." It wasn't until Marie spoke that I noticed that the others' conversation had stopped.

I blinked at him. "What do you mean by 'different'?"

From the way he smiled at me he must have picked up on my panic. "It's faster than a human's would normally be."

"Oh. I didn't know that." I blinked at him once more before turning my focus back to my food. "But then I've only listened to it once. It was creepy to hear so I tuned it out."

"You can hear heart beats?" Lavi looked at me incredulously, but like with everything else, the broken nose garbled it. "I knew you could hear better than you used to, but I didn't think it was _that_ much better."

I sighed and stabbed absently at something on my plate. "Yeah."

"So what else have you been hiding from us?"

I narrowed my eyes at the look Lavi gave me. "I haven't been hiding anything from you. Intentionally, anyway. There's things I haven't told you, but that's because they creep me out, not because I'm keeping secrets."

There was a devious glint in his eye when he spoke again. "Then what else 'haven't you told us'?"

We glared at each other for a moment before Lenalee interrupted. "Just answer the question, Allen."

I sighed and looked down at my plate. "Well you've seen my ears and tail. And you know what happens when I activate my Innocence. Add in my heightened senses, and I think that's everything..."

"We want details, Allen." Lenalee's tone was one I couldn't argue with.

"Fine." I set my fork back down, and moved my hands to my lap, where I absently began playing with the tip of my tail. "My sense of smell is stronger, and we just finished talking about how much better my hearing is. Really the only thing left is that I can see in the dark."

Lavi looked like he was about to explode, holding in his curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Exactly what I said: I can see in the dark. I know that it's dark, yet I can see as perfectly as if it was midday."

"I'm curious-" Miranda started to speak, but then cut herself off. "No, never mind! Forget I said anything!"

I smiled gently at her. "Miranda? It's ok. What is it you were going to say?"

She shook her head looking really freaked out, but after the others chimed in, we managed to convince her that it was ok to express her opinion. "From what you've said, it sounds like your hearing might be as good as Noise's. I was wondering if you can get around without sight like he can."

Everyone's eyes turned on me. Lenalee laughed. "It'd be interesting to see you try, Allen. And I bet using your hearing like that would help you adjust to how much stronger it is."

"Lena-"

"Allen." She cut me off with a stern look. "Whatever it is you've been doing for the past two weeks clearly hasn't been working. You should try something different."

I sighed. "That wasn't what I was going to say, Lenalee. But since you brought it up: just because you can't tell the difference, doesn't mean it's not working."

The look she gave me made me cringe. "There's something else you're not telling us."

"And I shouldn't have to tell you. You're my friends, you should have figured out on your own that I'm not happy about this." I stared solemnly at both Lenalee and Lavi. "So, what's the one thing that bothers me the most?"

They both just stared at me blankly. I narrowed my eyes at them. "Really? You're not even going to guess? It's really obvious..."

I sighed and lifted the end of my tail off of my lap and up to where they could see it. Their blank looks faded, but I couldn't help getting angry at them. "This thing affects absolutely everything that I do. It gets in the way constantly, and changed my center of balance. I even had to change how I sleep because of it. It's taken me two weeks to get used to it enough that I no longer have to put conscious thought into everyday actions. So before you go agreeing with Kanda and calling me a wuss, you need to remember that I'm having to relearn how to do _everything_."

I was wrapped in a hug from the side and Miranda started sobbing. "I'm so sorry, Allen!"

Before I could react, Lenalee had come around the table and was joining Miranda in the hug. I sat there and let them hug me. Eventually Miranda calmed down and let go. Lenalee was easy to shrug off after that.

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a yawn. Lenalee smirked and elbowed me in the side. "Told you so. You need to skip your training session with Kanda, and go straight to bed."

Now that I knew her innuendos weren't on purpose, I almost laughed at that one. I stood up from the table and started to walk away.

"Allen." I turned back when Marie addressed me. "If you want, we can spend some time training after breakfast tomorrow. I'll see if I can help you with your hearing."

"Thanks, Marie. I'd appreciate that." I smiled brightly even though I knew he couldn't see it.

I paused outside the cafeteria doors, wondering whether or not Kanda had gotten free of Teidoll yet, and where I should go to look for him if he had. I had just decided to head for the training room, when Lenalee caught up with me. I smiled at her like I had been waiting for her, but inwardly I was groaning. She was going to want to escort me to my room.

Once we were a few halls away from the cafeteria, she pulled me into a hidden alcove. I found myself with my back against the wall and Lenalee completely blocking my way out. The look in her eyes creeped me out, and she began to stroke my cheek. "You know, there are ways I could cheer you up... If you'd let me..."

In case I didn't get the innuendo, her other hand slid from my shoulder to my hip, where she tugged on my waistband. I sighed and pulled her hands away. "We've been over this before, Lena. I'm not interested in you like that."

"I don't care." She leaned in close and rested her head on my shoulder. "I haven't changed my mind. Even though you like guys, I'm still ok with being with you."

"Lenalee..."

She pulled her left hand free, and began sliding it up my thigh. "Allen, just shut up and take me. You'll change your mind once you lose your virginity."

I sighed and pulled her hand away once again. She whimpered slightly. "Allen, _please_?"

"Lena, my mind's not going to change." Clearly, as I wasn't even the slightest bit aroused by how she'd been touching me just seconds before. And I was in love with Kanda, but that wasn't something I could tell her. "And I've already lost my virginity. To a guy. So can we finally drop this and just be friends?"

"Allen..." Her voice hitched, and I felt her tears start to seep into my collar.

I dropped her hands and gently pulled her head off my shoulder. I cupped my hand under her chin and made her look at me. Her tear stained face made me sad. "Lenalee. You are the best and most important friend I've ever had. I wish I could be the one to make you happy. But I'm not attracted to you. And it's not fair to either of us, or our future spouses, for me to pretend that I am."

Lenalee pulled away and wiped her tears on her sleeve. She forced a smile. "You're right. I'm sorry to have put you through that again. I guess seeing Miranda set me off."

I matched her smile. "You're only eighteen. Miranda didn't even meet Marie until she was twenty six. There's no need for you to hurry."

Her fake smile faded as she relaxed. I guided her back into the hallway. "Besides, you need someone who isn't terrified of your brother."

The comment made her laugh. "Thank you, Allen."

"Any time." I pointed her in the direction of her room. "Just come to me as a friend next time you need cheering up, it's hard to comfort you when you're trying to grope me. And don't do anything stupid, like Lavi."

I winked at her when she turned back to me. Lenalee caught the double meaning and laughed once more. "Oh God. Can you imagine? I'd have to be really depressed to go there."

"Good night, Lenalee." I waved at her as I walked away.

When I reached my room, I collapsed on the bed. After that conversation, I no longer had the desire to look for Kanda. The things I needed to talk to him about could wait. Maybe not forever, but it could at least wait until a time when I hadn't just been propositioned by my best friend.

I wouldn't get my way though. Today just wasn't my day.

.x.x.

When I finally got free of Teidoll, I headed to the Moyashi's room. Like he had pointed out a couple weeks earlier, no one would think to look for me there, and I desperately needed to be where Teidoll couldn't find me. So even if sitting alone in Allen's room was awkward, I'd at least be alone.

I was surprised to find the Moyashi already there. He was sprawled sideways across his bed on his stomach. His ears and tail twitched when I entered, so I knew he was awake, but otherwise he didn't acknowledge my presence. And that was weird.

I made sure to lock the door behind me, then I strode over to the bed. Allen still hadn't moved. I sat down beside him after leaning Mugen against the bedside table. "Alright, Moyashi. What's bothering you?"

Allen sighed but didn't move, he looked really pathetic like that. When he spoke his voice was muffled by the blankets. "Long day."

"That's not what I asked."

That got a reaction out of him. He reached over and punched me. "I was getting there, Bakanda. It's been a long day, I was trying to figure out where to start. But since you're so _impatient_ , the short answer is: Lenalee."

I didn't know how to react. It was beyond strange to hear the Moyashi say something like that about his best friend. "What happened?"

He rolled over onto his side and gave me an incredulous look. "Were you not paying attention at dinner?!"

"You mean that innuendo thing? It wasn't that bad." Certainly not bad enough for him to be acting like he was.

Allen snorted and collapsed onto his back. "You weren't there at lunch. She kept it up for the _entire_ meal. It was mortifying. And I couldn't tell her what she was doing, because then she'd want to know _why_ I was thinking about that. And Lavi just sat there giggling the whole time."

He curled up into a ball and buried his face in his hands. "And the worst part is that I'm afraid that she might be _right_."

"Right about what?"

It was almost comical the way Allen reacted. He clearly hadn't meant to say that last bit out loud. His ears stood up on his head, and his silver eyes grew wide as he stared at me. Then he clasped his hands over his mouth and started shaking his head. "No. It's nothing. Forget I said anything."

I rolled him over onto his back and moved so that I was kneeling over him. I pulled his hands away from his mouth and pinned them beside his head. "Moyashi. Explain. Now."

He squeezed his eyes shut and resumed shaking his head. I smirked at him. "Unfortunately for you, Teidoll's still here. So I literally have nowhere else to go. I have all the time in the world to make you talk."

To emphasize my point, I leaned down and licked his collarbone. He didn't react, and that was really strange. So I let him stay silent while I remembered what it was that Lenalee had said... "I don't understand. Why would you be in such a panic over the suggestion that we not have sex tonight?"

"Because that's not how she originally explained it to me..."

"Moyashi?"

Allen sighed heavily. "She said that she thinks our activities might be doing more harm than good."

Well that certainly explained the Moyashi's strange behavior. It was _me_ that he was scared of. I leaned closer and kissed him. "You need to relax, Moyashi. If you think we need to tone down the sex until you've recovered a little more, then that's what we'll do."

The look on his face said that he didn't even remotely believe me. "You mean to tell me that if I told you that I didn't want to have sex for a while, then you would actually go along with that?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I wouldn't rape you, if that's what you're implying."

The Moyashi's eyes widened in horror. "No! That's not what I was thinking at all! I was thinking... that you'd..." His voice trailed off, but I managed to catch the last words. "...break up with me..."

I frowned at him as I stood up off the bed, keeping my grip on his wrists and pulling him into a sitting position in the process. He stared at me, completely confused, as I began to unbutton my jacket. "What are you doing, Kanda?"

"I don't know where you got _that_ idea from, so I'm going to prove to you that our relationship goes deeper than just sex." I slid my jacket off and laid it over the back of a chair.

"By stripping?" I almost laughed at the bewilderment in his voice. I let the question go unanswered, I wanted to see if he could figure it out for himself.

.x.x.

I continued to stare blankly at Kanda as he sat on the chair and pulled his boots off. I could not for the life of me figure out what he was up to. He set the boots neatly under the chair, then he caught me completely of guard when he reached over and pulled off my shoes.

I shrieked slightly and pulled my feet up into a cross-legged position. I tried to say something, but my protests died in my throat when Kanda reached up and removed his hair tie. I stared at him in fascination and confusion as he gathered up the strands and wove them into a loose braid.

I was snapped out of my reverie when he laughed at me. "What's that look for, Moyashi? You know that I prefer to sleep with my hair tied back. It's not like you've never seen me do this before."

Recognition dawned on me immediately. Kanda was stripping because he was getting ready for bed. I was off the bed in a flash. By the time I had changed into my pajama shirt, he had finished stripping to his boxers. He stood there staring at me, and the second I was changed he was pushing me towards the bed.

While I climbed under the covers, he turned out the light. The change made no difference to me, I had only turned it on out of habit. I was worried for about half a second, but then Kanda was back on the bed with me. He wrapped me in his arms and pulled me close to him. "Moyashi. You need to end the day on a positive note. So I want you to tell me about something good that happened today."

 _'Something good'? Did anything good happen today?_ I sighed and pulled him closer to me. "Well, since I'm guessing that _this_ doesn't count... Marie said he'll help me train my hearing tomorrow."

Kanda began stroking my ears as I babbled out the story. I nodded off while I was talking, and for the first time in our relationship we slept together without having sex first.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Well it's a week late, but here it is. But you get four thousand words, so don't be too mad at me. ;)

Also: In case you've missed it, I post updates on my profile. If a chapter's going to be late, or different, or whatever, you can find the information there.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Allen talking himself to sleep was probably the most amusing thing I'd ever seen him do. I had known he was tired, but I hadn't expected him to be _that_ tired.

In a way it was sad that he didn't finish his story. Marie was one of the few people in the Order I actually liked and respected. I truly thought of him like a brother. It was nice to hear the man I loved speak so highly of him.

I slept really well despite it not being my own bed, something I chalked up to the closeness of my Moyashi. And when it came time to get up to go meditate, I found myself wanting to stay beside him, just like I had every morning since we had gotten together. That morning I caved to that desire. After our conversation the night before, I wanted to be there when he woke up, even though I knew he'd most likely still be asleep if I left and came back.

I was also still hiding from Teidoll.

So I pulled Allen closer, and lost myself in the smell of the neko's hair. It reminded me of all those times I'd watch him sleep when we were on missions together. He was just so beautiful that I couldn't help myself. I wondered how I never noticed that he cared for me. It seemed so obvious in retrospect. He was so quick with the insults because, like I had, he thought I hated him, and the harsh words protected him.

.x.x.

I woke up the same way I had fallen asleep, in Kanda's arms. His hair had come loose from its braid and was falling around us. From the way his breath fell on my shoulders he was awake and had been for some time. It was really weird after having gotten used to waking up alone. "What are you doing here?"

It came out harsher than I intended. He snickered. "Really, Moyashi? That's how you greet me? No 'good morning'?"

I knew from the expression on his face that I was blushing. "Sorry. It's just... you always go meditate in the morning. I didn't expect you to still be here. Aren't you worried about being bitchier than normal?"

Kanda snickered again, and I elbowed him in the stomach. "I'm serious, Bakanda. We all know you're even more of a pain to deal with when your routine gets messed up."

His hand on my hip slipped under my shirt, and I gasped when his fingers began rubbing up and down my side. "I had something else in mind for relaxing me..."

I sighed and pulled his hand away. "I should have known that all that stuff you said last night was a lie."

Kanda laughed and kissed my neck. "I was joking, Moyashi. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you."

"What does that mean?"

I was rolled over so that I was lying on my back. Kanda knelt over me, his long hair creating a curtain that blocked out everything but his beautiful face. "I meant every word I said last night, Allen. Sex isn't the only thing I want from you. I love you."

So much for getting him to stop touching me, those three words made it impossible for _me_ to stop touching _him_. I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled him close. Our lips met roughly. I could feel him laughing at me as we kissed, but I didn't care.

I lost myself in the kiss, in the taste of him. Our tongues tangled as we fought for dominance, and it wasn't long before we were grinding our hips together.

And that's when everything went to hell.

I missed the knocking on the door. And someone calling my name. And the rattling of the doorknob. The next thing I was aware of was Miranda screeching.

It was very startling, I hadn't heard her freak out like that since she married Marie. Kanda and I bolted apart. I sat up and swiftly smoothed out my hair. Miranda threw her hands over her face and turned around. "I didn't see anything! I swear!"

I knew I was beet red, but I didn't dare look at Kanda to see his reaction. Internally I was screaming as loudly as Miranda was; I had just been caught in bed with Kanda. This was going to be bad.

The tense atmosphere was broken by deep laughter. I turned from Miranda to see Marie in the doorway. "Being blind, I truly didn't see anything, but if it was anything like how it sounded..."

Kanda swore. I squeaked. Marie pulled Miranda close to him and whispered soothing words to stop her screeching. I collapsed back on the bed with a groan. "If you're not going to leave then can you at least close the door? I'd prefer not to let everyone see this."

Marie laughed as he complied. Kanda finally snapped out of his stupor. He swore a few times. "What the fuck are you doing here, Marie?"

"That's not a nice way to talk, Kanda. I think the real question is: what are _you_ doing here? This is _Allen's_ room, isn't it?" Marie laughed as Kanda swore some more. I buried my face in my hands, tempted to swear myself. "Don't you 'hate him more than you've ever hated anyone'?"

The last sentence was said like he knew it wasn't true; I also knew that it was something that Kanda had actually said to Marie about me. I groaned and spoke over Kanda's swearing. "What exactly did you hear, Marie?"

He laughed some more. "Oh nothing much, just the two of you doing a bit more than making out, which Miranda appears to have gotten a full view of."

I groaned again, and Kanda swore yet again, but Marie kept talking. His smirk was obvious even if I couldn't see it. "I also heard _Kanda_ say the words 'I love you'..."

The choking sound Kanda made was really odd. If I was embarrassed, then he was mortified out of his mind. He growled at Marie. "So what?"

"I didn't think you would know what love was, much less admit out loud to feeling it. That's quite a step for you Kanda. Congratulations."

The comment was sincere, but Kanda just growled at Marie more. The blind man laughed again. "On the other hand, to hear you say that to a _man_... And not just any man, but _Allen Walker_..."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Allen." Marie smiled gently. "I didn't mean it like that. But didn't the two of you once demolish a hotel room in one of your _many_ attempts to kill each other? How exactly did you get from that to sleeping in the same bed?"

Kanda lunged for Mugen, but I was between him and his sword, so when he moved, I rolled over and pinned him to the bed. "You're not wearing clothes, Bakanda. Maybe it's best if you stay put..."

"Get off me, Moyashi."

Miranda giggled nervously. I blushed fiercely and moved off of Kanda. Marie laughed briefly, but then it faded. "In all seriousness, what's going on with you two?"

"We've been together for two weeks." It was Kanda who spoke, my tongue wasn't working.

"'Together' as in...?"

I expected an angry or sarcastic response from Kanda, not the pleasant, honest one he gave. "So far it's just been talking and sleeping together. The Moyashi's not allowed to leave headquarters, so until he recovers that's all we get."

Marie nodded like he was agreeing with the statement. "Of course. You don't want to broadcast to everyone that you're gay."

His face suddenly broke out in a devious smirk, and I knew it was aimed at Kanda. "Speaking of which, do you care to explain how that happened, Kanda? Don't you hate all forms of human contact?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you." That was the kind of response I expected from Kanda.

I felt like I should interrupt, but I didn't know what to say. I settled for smiling sheepishly at Miranda, who had calmed down but still looked incredibly nervous.

"Yes, you do. Or rather, if you want this affair with Allen to remain a secret, you do. I might just spill everything to Teidoll if you don't." I caught the slight hitch in Marie's heartbeat. The blind man had no intention of saying anything, he was just pushing Kanda's buttons. "So... Since when are _you_ interested in sex?"

The scowling pout Kanda made was adorable, which wasn't a word I would have ever thought of associating with the samurai. I had to look away to keep my body from reacting. He grumbled a few curse words before giving in.

"That's _his_ fault." To emphasize his point, Kanda poked me sharply in the shoulder. "I didn't care about any of that before he showed up."

Marie nodded a couple times. "And what about you, Allen?"

I was startled to suddenly be pulled into their conversation. "What about me?"

Kanda snickered. Miranda giggled just a little. Marie laughed outright. The blush returned to my face. They were waiting for my side of the story. I sat up, unaware that I had pulled my tail into my lap and was fiddling with the tip. "Oh, right, umm... Well, I knew I was gay long before I came here, but there wasn't anyone specific until I met Kanda."

"But wasn't that two years ago?" Miranda finally found her voice. She looked really confused on top of her nervousness. "Noise and I got together as soon as we realized our feelings, we didn't want to waste any time. So what took you two so long?"

I smiled gently at her, but it was Kanda who spoke. It was another honest response that surprised me. "We were too good at pretending to hate each other. If General Cross hadn't intervened and told me the Moyashi's feelings, we'd still be fighting."

Marie started to speak, but the question was drowned out by my stomach growling. He laughed. "Right, we should probably let you get ready for breakfast. The questions can wait for another time."

"Thanks." I gave him an embarrassed smile.

They were halfway out the door when Kanda suddenly addressed them. "Wait. Why'd you come here in the first place?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Miranda stopped in her tracks and turned back to face me. "General Teidoll heard about your cat curse, Allen. He wants to talk with you over breakfast."

"Wonderful." I fell back on the bed and groaned. I wasn't sure that I wanted to have all of that man's attention on me. "Thanks for the warning."

"No problem." Marie smiled as he wrapped an arm around Miranda's shoulders and led her out of the room. "And don't worry, we'll keep this morning's events to ourselves."

.x.x.

When we were done arguing over who left the door unlocked in the middle of the night, Allen and I decided that it was good that someone knew about us. It would ease the pressure of sneaking around, not that we'd had any problems with that yet. Personally I was just thankful that that someone wasn't Lavi, the redhead couldn't keep a secret for anything.

Breakfast with Teidoll joining our little group was annoying. He pestered Allen with questions that _I_ was tired of hearing, and it showed on the Moyashi's face that he too was tired of the repetition. It irritated me that none of the others could see through the neko's mask. I was also already frustrated after my attempt to have sex with him was interrupted, so overall my mood was really crappy. Maybe skipping my meditation wasn't a good idea.

But on the other hand, it was a relief to not be the center of Teidoll's focus. He could force his "fatherly love" on someone else for a change. I felt a little bad that that someone else was my Moyashi, but it was only for one meal. I had put up with Teidoll for over a decade, Allen could handle him for an hour.

Halfway through the meal it occurred to me that it wasn't just going to be just an hour. If that man ever learned that Allen and I were together, we'd never hear the end of his crazy side. Because, like Marie that morning, Teidoll wouldn't care that my lover was a male. He'd be too overjoyed that I _had_ a lover for that. Which meant that he'd start treating Allen like the daughter-in-law in his little family fantasy, and he'd take it to even more of an extreme than he did with Miranda.

So hopefully Marie would keep his promise and keep his mouth shut. But I knew he would. Marie could keep a secret. Miranda on the other hand... Well, Allen was her favorite person, she wouldn't do anything to hurt him. That would have to be a good enough reason to trust her with this.

I tried to leave for my duties when I was done with breakfast, but Teidoll and Lenalee wouldn't have it. So I was dragged down to the training room. Apparently the whole group was going to watch Marie train Allen; it was supposed to be "fun". Personally, I didn't see what the big deal was, I trained blindfolded all the time.

I ended up sitting in a corner and watching. And even though the others mostly left me alone, it definitely wasn't what I would call fun. While it was somewhat amusing watching the Moyashi stumble around blindfolded, I found the whole ordeal annoying. The others were too loud for me to tune out. Especially that redheaded idiot Lavi, he didn't seem to have learned his lesson about pushing Allen's buttons.

But worst of all: I couldn't keep my eyes off that white haired neko.

Every move Allen made sent tingles down my spine. Each twist of his body emphasized just how strong and flexible he was. It was driving me crazy. And the cat ears and tail weren't helping.

I was serious about toning things down if it was what he wanted, but he had yet to make up his mind, and I desperately hoped it wasn't what he would decide to do. If he made me wait, I wasn't too sure I'd be able to keep my promise of not raping him.

The training session was halted at lunchtime. Teidoll wanted to get back to work, and Allen was hungry. I was thankful for it; I don't think I could have taken any more. I took advantage of the chaos and escaped to my bedroom.

.x.x.

Claiming to need a nap, I slipped away after lunch. Training that morning had been a bit of a fiasco. I was expecting it to be just me and Marie, and maybe Miranda, not all the exorcists currently at headquarters. Even Bookman had joined us. And to top it all off, the others had dragged Kanda along.

His presence was distracting. When I was blindfolded, I could always sense where he was. And when I wasn't, I could see him giving me that one specific look. It used to make me want to hit him, back before I knew that he was undressing me with his eyes. And damn it, I would have much rather been where he could actually undress me.

Which was why I went straight for Kanda's bedroom. I picked the lock, not wanting to be seen waiting for him to open the door. He was giving me a weird look from where he was laying on the bed. "What?"

"What are you doing here?" He looked away from me and up at the ceiling. "I thought you'd go back to training."

"I told them I needed a nap. I don't think it fooled Marie, but it bought me some time." I climbed on the bed and knelt on top of him, sitting back on my heels.

"Time for what?" He was smirking and giving me that look again.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You know exactly what I want."

He sat up and kissed me, running his fingers through my hair and caressing my ears. "What about you wanting to slow things down?"

I laughed as I pulled my ribbon off my neck. "I was talking about not having sex every day, not stopping it altogether. Besides, I think I'd go crazy if I had to give you up completely. I need you."

Those were the last words spoken for quite some time. We kissed passionately as we undressed. No time was wasted on foreplay, we went straight for the main event. It went without saying that it was my turn to top; we were short on time, and for the sake of appearances, I needed to not be sore.

When we were done, I lay beside him, breathing heavily. Kanda kissed the spot above my jaw where my ear used to be. I swatted him away. "Don't do that. It's creepy."

He laughed and shoved me towards the edge of the bed. "Either shut up or leave. I'm not in the mood to deal with your whiney ass right now."

I rolled my eyes as I slid off the bed and began hunting down my clothes. "Of course you're not. You never are."

"Che. Just go back to your training." The annoyed tone would have been more effective if he wasn't staring at me in a way that said 'come back to bed'.

I laughed as I adjusted my last piece of clothing. "See you at dinner, Bakanda."

.x.x.

Allen seemed much more relaxed when he returned from his nap. He'd been on edge all morning, it was nice see him loosen up a little.

There were less people around that afternoon which probably helped too. General Teidoll had left, Bookman and Lavi were at a mission briefing in my brother's office, and Kanda had disappeared to who knows where; he was probably off pouting over missing a day of work. It was much less chaotic with only four of us.

It was fascinating watching Allen maneuver the training area using only his hearing to guide him. And he improved greatly as time went on. He was nowhere near as good as Marie, but as the blind man had pointed out: he'd had a decade of practice, Allen was doing spectacular for his first day trying. He tripped a lot, but he had actually managed to avoid walking into any walls.

It was nearing dinner time when Allen suddenly stopped in the middle of what he was doing and sat down with us. Miranda beat me to the worried question. "What's wrong, Allen?"

He adjusted the blindfold like he wanted to take it off. "Nothing bad, I'm just a little dizzy. Can we be done now?"

Marie said something to Allen that I couldn't hear, but from the way the neko blushed I really wished I had. Allen spluttered a little before he found his voice. "C-Come on, Marie. Don't joke about that."

The blind man laughed and Miranda giggled; I guess I was the only one not in on the joke. Allen frowned at them. Marie whispered something else that caused Allen's frown and blush to deepen. "If I say yes, will you drop it?"

"Fine, fine." Marie laughed. "There's one more thing I want you to try and then you can be done for the day."

Allen's ears perked up. "And what is it?"

"I want you to leave the blindfold on while you walk to the cafeteria."

I laughed when the excitement fell from Allen's face. "It'll be fun, Allen. We've always joked that you could find your way to the cafeteria blindfolded, I want to see if you can actually do it."

Allen grumbled as he stood up. "Fine, let's get this over with."

He started to walk away. I caught up with him quickly, but Marie and Miranda stayed behind. When we reached the training room doors Allen paused and looked back. Marie smiled at us, clearly sensing Allen's unasked question. "You can go on ahead, Allen. Miranda and I would like some time alone. Lenalee, you can make sure he leaves the blindfold on. Oh, and don't let him use the wall as a guide; this is an exercise in hearing, not touch."

Allen huffed. "Are you sure you don't want to tie my hands behind my back?"

Marie laughed at the sarcasm. "If you think it would help, go for it."

I followed Allen out into the hall. From my perspective things got tense almost immediately; it was the first time we'd been alone since I approached him the previous night. He had smiled when he sent me away, but that didn't make me any less self-conscious about what I'd done.

As predicted, the neko had no trouble finding the way to the cafeteria. The boy was too obsessed with food to fail in that task. I stopped him before we got too close to other people. I couldn't take the awkwardness anymore. "Umm, Allen? Can we talk about last night?"

I felt my cheeks burn red when Allen cocked his head at me. It helped that he was blindfolded and I couldn't see his eyes. "What for?"

"I ...umm... I wanted to ... apologize for my behavior. I shouldn't have acted like I did."

"Thank you, Lenalee." He smiled gently at me. "And I understand that you were depressed, so stop worrying about it, and let's go eat."

Allen turned back around and promptly tripped over an uneven spot in the stone floor. I moved to help him, but he turned the fall into a somersault and ended back on his feet. The whole thing eased the tension I felt and made me smile.

"It's true what they say about cats always landing on their feet." Lavi laughed from where he had just come around the corner. He stopped and waited for us to catch up to him. "Are you sure it's ok to let him loose like that?"

I laughed over Allen's grumbling. "We're heading to the cafeteria, Marie wanted him to do it blindfolded."

Lavi nodded and fell in step with us, keeping well away from Allen when he saw how angry his comments had made the neko. More than once I caught him adjusting the bandage on his nose. I wondered if it was uncomfortable or if he was scared of Allen.

The moment he stepped through the cafeteria doors, Allen yanked the blindfold off. His first few steps were unsteady, but then he found his footing. By the time I caught up to him, he was already at the window telling Jerry everything he wanted to eat.

When he was done, he went straight for the table where Kanda was sitting. It was proof that the pair were now somewhat friends, the samurai didn't immediately get up and leave when Allen sat down. Lavi and I joined them when we had ordered our food.

Dinner passed much like usual, though Allen seemed a little distracted. Kanda called him 'Moyashi' half a dozen times, but the neko never did more than make a face at the samurai. Whenever we asked what was wrong he'd say he was still feeling a little dizzy from training and it wasn't anything to worry about. I didn't buy it. It was typical for Allen: he could have been severely injured and would have passed it off as nothing just to keep us from worrying about him. It was both irritating and endearing, but I let it slide. Pestering him wouldn't accomplish anything.

We were discussing Lavi's upcoming mission when Allen suddenly dropped his silverware and bolted from the table. It was _extremely_ out of character for that boy to abandon his food. (Unless there was an akuma, but he would have said something if that was the case.) The rest of us didn't know what to do, we just sat there dumbstruck as we watched Allen run from the cafeteria.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N #1: Over 50 followers?! Wow! Thanks you guys!

A/N #2: This is sort of a spoiler for this chapter, but I feel like I need to clarify some formatting: words in _**bold italics**_ are the characters talking telepathically.

A/N #3: Also a bit of a spoiler. The first half of the flashback is a little odd, in my opinion. I was trying to explain how this universe differs from the manga, but it basically ended up being a summary of chapters 207-217; there weren't as many differences as I expected there to be (the only important one is that Link isn't stalking them). But Kanda's narrating, so it should still be fun to read.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A dark haired young man stepped confidently out of the ark gate and into the entry hall of the Black Order's headquarters. The men stationed there gave him a wide berth. He was allowed to come and go as he pleased, but that didn't mean they accepted his presence.

He made his way to the doors, but never reached them. A white blur came out of nowhere and tackled him. The young man struggled to keep his balance as what he now realized was a person wrapped him in a tight hug. "NEAH!"

"Allen?" Neah blinked in confusion. Allen had never shown any signs of affection for him before. He didn't mind, the teen liked him incredibly well considering all that time Neah had possessed him. Becoming friends with his former host hadn't been part of his plan, but it made things so much easier. And the kid was basically his nephew, they were family. But even with all that, Allen still kept his distance. A hug was out of the ordinary. This over-excited flying leap thing blew Neah's mind.

Neah stared critically at the white haired teen as he moved to stand on his own two feet. The hug was never broken, and Allen buried his face in the young man's chest. The cat ears on the teen's head were not missed, but like everyone else who didn't know, he assumed that they were a weird fashion choice. "It's good to see you, Neah."

"Allen? Allen! He's in here guys!" Lenalee's voice echoed into the room, then Allen's friends all traipsed inside, but Allen didn't react. His hold on Neah stayed firm.

The appearance of the Fourteenth Noah was unexpected, but the man was considered an ally of the Order, so the exorcists didn't object to his presence. His only greeting was a nod of acknowledgement from Kanda.

Lavi and Lenalee were inwardly grinning at how adorable Allen was being. Neah and Kanda shared the same confused expression as they watched the neko. "Oi! Moyashi! What do you think you're doing?"

Allen immediately returned to his senses. He backed away from Neah slowly. The expression on his face said that he was ready to bolt. "Ah, sorry. What are you doing here, Neah?"

The dark haired man narrowed his eyes at the neko. "Looking for you. I came to see what was wrong."

"What makes you think something's wrong?" The innocence Allen feigned didn't fool anyone.

"You've been ignoring my messages for two weeks. Usually when you don't want to talk you tell me to fuck off. This silent treatment thing isn't your style." Neah raised an eyebrow at him. "And then I get here and you greet me with a flying hug. Something is definitely wrong."

Lavi laughed, but the sound was garbled by the bandages on his broken nose. "I don't think 'wrong' is the right word; 'adorably different' is probably better."

Allen growled at the redhead. "Do you _want_ me to hit you again?"

Lavi gulped and covered his face. Neah didn't know what to make of what he just saw. He did, however, catch the exchange between Allen and Kanda that followed it. He was watching for it after all. The way Allen's eyes sparkled for the brief second when they met Kanda's was all the Noah needed for him to know that the pair had finally gotten together.

So if the samurai wasn't Allen's problem, what else could possibly be wrong?

As far as Neah could see, the only difference in the teen was the white cat ears on his head. They must be connected to whatever was bothering the kid.

The bickering between the male exorcists was cut off when Allen felt a tug on his ear. He gave a very unmanly shriek and swatted at the hand yanking his ear. _**OW!**_

Neah recoiled, clutching his arm as a few drops of blood began to well out of the scratches the neko left. The burning sting he felt could have been caused by only one thing: the teen's Innocence. He looked from his arm to Allen. _**What the hell was**_ **that** _ **for?**_

Allen's pain and anger faded to concern. He reached for Neah's arm. "Oh god, I'm so sor-"

He froze halfway when he caught sight of the short black claws extending from the tips of his fingers. He had thought they were part of the activation of his Innocence, seeing them now sent him into a panic.

Neah saw the claws too. The bloody scratches were forgotten. He carefully took Allen's right hand, which was still reaching out, and moved it so he could get a better look at the sharp claws. "What's going on?"

Allen bit his lip. He shook his head as tears began to prick at the corners of his eyes. Neah snorted at the embarrassed reaction. "Just tell me. Don't make me read your memories."

Kanda scoffed and rolled his eyes at how Allen was acting; unlike the others, he was internalizing his surprise and concern. "The brat's half cat. Those ears on his head are real. And so is the tail sticking out of his ass."

"Oh really?" Neah narrowed his eyes at Allen and used the hand he was holding as leverage to turn the neko around. The tail in question curled as Allen yelled in protest at being manhandled.

The Noah gaped at the furry appendage for a moment before turning Allen back around. He returned his focus to the claws. There were lots of questions running through his head, but only one was important. "How are you using your Innocence without activating it?"

Allen blinked at Neah. The Noah's words confirmed his earlier suspicion that the claws were composed of his Innocence. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and retracted the claws. "I don't know. This is the first time it's happened."

Lavi spoke from behind Lenalee, the appearance of the claws had scared him into hiding. "Well, your Innocence is what made you a neko, if you think about it, it makes sense that you'd be able to channel its power like that."

Neah snapped his attention back to Allen. He pulled the teen closer and all but growled at him. "Your _Innocence_ did this to you?!"

There was enough of a mental link left between the pair for the neko to pick up the Noah's thoughts; Neah was currently cursing out the Innocence. Allen rolled his eyes as he pulled himself away. _**There's no need for that kind of language, Neah.**_ "Technically, my Innocence saved me. A witch tried to turn me into a cat. If it hadn't intervened things might have turned out worse."

The anger that Neah felt switched targets. _**A witch?! Explain! Now!**_

 _ **Fine.**_ Allen sighed. The neko didn't really want to tell the story again, but it was Neah... The Noah really would read his mind if he tried to hold things back. So Allen started at the beginning, replaying his memories of the incident for Neah.

Kanda figured out quickly that the two were speaking telepathically. They did it all the time when they were together. He found it incredibly annoying, but at the same time, Allen was incredibly hot when he was concentrating like that.

The other two exorcists weren't quite so quick, being unfamiliar with the bond Allen and Neah shared. It had been four and half months, but they still didn't know what all had transpired between Allen and the Fourteenth. They tried to start a conversation when things fell silent, but it fell apart when Allen didn't respond to them. Kanda snickered. "It's no use. He's gone. It could be hours before they're done talking."

Lenalee blinked at the samurai. "What are you talking about, Kanda?"

"Of course the Moyashi didn't tell you. That would be too easy." He cursed under his breath. "It's a long story, but as I understand it: the brat isn't the Fourteenth's host anymore, but they're still connected. They can talk with their thoughts."

Lavi's eye sparked with the millions of questions he had. He was practically jumping up and down. Kanda scoffed. "Che. Don't ask. I don't know. And don't ask him. He won't tell you."

Lenalee cocked her head to the side and gave Kanda the look she'd perfected when they were children. He was powerless against it. "What exactly happened during those three weeks you were with Allen? It's been four and a half months and we still haven't been told anything. All we know is that at the end of it you'd been promoted and Allen was free."

.x.x.

~May~

It had been a crazy month so far, and it was barely a week over. I'd returned to the Order, something I probably would have been better off not doing, but I needed to retrieve Mugen and have a talk with that annoying bean sprout. It was Alma's idea, not mine; I had no intention of ever confessing to that brat, but she somehow gave me no choice.

But life hadn't made things easy: Allen was gone, two of the Noah had broken him out of prison and he'd run away; and Mugen wanted to test my loyalty. At least I'd been prepared for that second one, and so I had willingly let my Innocence crystallize.

Tracking Allen down had been the biggest pain of all. It started out well, beating up two members of Crow in order to rescue Johnny had been quite fun. Following the scientist through the red light districts of various towns had not. Or rather, now that my body had stopped healing hangovers, that was not as enjoyable as it should have been.

But it worked. We found the Moyashi. Dressed like a clown and entertaining people for money. Our attempt to capture him was interrupted by an akuma attack and he got away. But at least Johnny wasn't totally useless and had managed to place a tracker on him.

We finally dragged Allen's sorry ass to an inn, unconscious and fighting with the Noah inside him. I couldn't help being worried about the brat. I was resolved to kill him if he lost the fight, but I wanted more than anything for him to win, I couldn't lose him.

Eventually I had to leave the room. The Moyashi's unconscious form was causing my body to react in ways that were very inappropriate for the situation. If I went for a short walk in the cool night air it would calm me down. Nothing bad was going to happen in the ten minutes I'd be gone.

But of course that was exactly what happened. The Noah woke up while I was out. I had my sword at his throat the second I walked in the room, but then the bastard disappeared and Allen was back. Which led to chaos over Johnny having gotten hurt, which led to us having to physically restrain the Moyashi when he tried to run away.

Why did I have to fall in love with such a troublesome brat? If it were anyone else I could have just dumped them back at the Order and been done with the hassle.

But there I was, sitting with him and Johnny on the side of the road. Johnny was trying to repair people's junk to earn money. And Allen was trying to break free of his handcuffs. It was annoying, but at least he couldn't run away anymore.

And that's when things got worse. I didn't think it was possible, but apparently it was.

Because that's when that sentient Innocence showed up. Even with my second illusion invoked I was useless against the guy. He pinned me down and wiped my memories.

Teidoll showed up while I was dazed and confused, which made everything more annoying. But then my seal healed my fractured memories. There was a moment of marveling over Timcanpy's death. It was a begrudging bit of gratitude that made me care; if the golden thing hadn't turned on my golem and attracted the Order things would have turned out much worse.

That's when the finders announced that they were on Allen's trail. And apparently Teidoll thought that that was the perfect time to launch into a trip down memory lane. That old man had seriously awful timing.

He said he wanted to help though, and that he'd let me go on one condition: that I prove my loyalty to the Order by taking a position as general. When had that frizzy haired moron figured out that I had broken critical? I'd been keeping it a secret specifically so that I wouldn't have to become a general. But like with the crystallization of my Innocence, I was resolved to accept whatever hardships came my way.

The second that was done, I took off towards the Moyashi. Teidoll followed, laughing at me the entire time.

I fortunately found Allen before the Order did anything stupid, like try to restrain him. He was a mess, completely oblivious to the fact that he was surrounded. He ran right up to me with tears in his eyes. "Kanda? Have you seen Tim anywhere? I can't find him."

"He's dead." Teidoll would later call me cruel for saying it like that, but the direct approach was the only way I knew how to give news like that.

Allen collapsed into my chest and sobbed. And I ... let him. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn't, especially not in front of Teidoll and the finders. But I couldn't push him away either. So I just let him lean against me and cry. "We were attacked by a ... sentient Innocence. He incapacitated me, and killed Timcanpy while I was out."

Allen's tears turned to anger. But to my surprise, it wasn't at me. "Damn Apocryphos."

I grabbed the Moyashi by the collar when he tried to run off. He clearly knew what was going on, and I was not going to let him get away until he explained. "What exactly have you gotten yourself into, Moyashi? Something like that _thing_ shouldn't exist."

"My name is Allen, Bakanda!" The outburst was unexpected, but I managed to keep my grip on the brat. He sighed and collapsed to a sitting position. "I don't really know what's going on. That thing attacked me when the Order had me locked up. It wanted to assimilate me or something. It said that that was the only way to stop the Fourteenth from awakening. When Road and Tyki showed up they called it Apocryphos. They said it was a clue to the location of the Heart."

"What exactly happened when you left the Order, Allen? We were told that the Noah broke you out, but it sounds like that wasn't the case." Teidoll spoke from over my shoulder.

Allen sighed. "When I was attacked by Apocryphos, they showed up to fight with it. I got caught in the middle, because it was still trying to absorb me. It was chaos. Road took a fatal blow meant for me. Link removed Tim's bonds so that we could get away. When we got out to the forest, Tyki told me that if I returned to the Order that Innocence thing would just attack me again. So I left."

"And you've just been running ever since?"

"Of course." Allen rolled his eyes at Teidoll's stupid question. "It was the only way to survive. If I stayed in one place too long either the Noah would find me and awaken the Fourteenth, or Apocryphos would find me and absorb me, or the Order would find me and lock me up again."

There was silence. It was a logic that I couldn't argue with, and it seemed like Teidoll couldn't either. "What's your plan now?"

"I-" Allen suddenly curled in on himself and groaned in pain. I expected his skin to darken like it had the day before. But instead his left arm started feathering. "Damn it."

My attention was completely focused on the Moyashi, so I didn't see that someone was approaching until Teidoll spoke. "Oh, hello, Cardinal. What brings you here?"

I looked up and had Mugen drawn and activated in a heartbeat. To say that I was pissed off was an understatement. "You bastard."

"Yuu! What are you doing?" Teidoll placed a restraining hand on my shoulder, but that didn't stop me from activating my second illusion.

I leveled both of my swords at the 'Cardinal'. "What the fuck are you doing here? Didn't you promise Timcanpy that you'd leave Allen alone today?"

The 'Cardinal' gave me an odd look. "How do you remember that? Didn't I wipe your memory?"

My only response was to snarl at him. Teidoll removed his hand from my shoulder, at least the old man wasn't completely stupid.

"Oh right, you're the Second Exorcist. Are-"

"What the hell did you do to Timcanpy?!" Allen struggled to his feet. He looked more livid than I felt, which was impressive because I was more ticked off than I'd been in a long time.

"It was in the way. It still held loyalties to its original master, so I got rid of it."

Allen started crying once again, but began yelling obscenities through the tears. I couldn't help backing away a little. The last time I saw Allen that angry he had ended up morphing his Innocence.

The 'Cardinal' merely started laughing. He calmly began walking closer. "That bravado would be impressive if you could back it up. But you can't run away, the Order has you surrounded. And you can't fight me with your Innocence. So you can do nothing but stand there and take this."

I wanted to do something, but couldn't. I was well aware that I was powerless against this guy. So I could do nothing but watch.

When the 'Cardinal' was about three feet in front of Allen, the boy suddenly burst out laughing. But it wasn't his usual laugh. It was too dark to even be from his black side. "Innocence may not work on you, but there's something else that does..."

The ominous statement scared me. That voice wasn't Allen's, but I recognized it. This was horrible, horrible timing.

The Moyashi's posture switched from cringing in pain to self-assured and smirking. His skin turned dark, and even though I was behind him I knew that his silver eyes had turned gold.

The Fourteenth had woken up.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #4: If I stay on target with my outline, there will be ten more chapters of this story. Chapter 15 will be the rest of this flashback. Chapter 16 will be the end of Allen's recovery period. And from Chapter 17 on it will be missions as a neko, stuff with Cross, and other things I won't say because of spoilers.

A/N #5: To ryuakilover and jy24: I did that on purpose, thank you for falling for it. :) But don't worry, it will happen eventually. Just not until the sequel.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Here's the rest of the flashback.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The fight between the Fourteenth and Apocryphos was very anticlimactic. The sentient Innocence that I had stood no chance against was completely outclassed by the Noah. In the time it took me and Teidoll to order the finders to stay out of it, the fight was over.

I looked away for a few seconds and when I turned back, the Fourteenth had Apocryphos pinned to a wall, ready to deliver the final blow. The Noah paused the fight to speak to him. "Allen doesn't want me to finish you off. I'm trying to prove to him that I'm not the enemy, so I'm going to give you a choice. If you promise to leave Allen and his friends alone, I'll let you live."

Apocryphos growled angrily at him. The Noah growled right back. "I'm not a threat to Allen or the Black Order. You're wasting your time fighting me."

Clearly Apocryphos didn't believe him. He tried to attack the Fourteenth, who dodged it easily. He sighed. "Have it your way then."

The sentient Innocence dissolved into smoke when the Fourteenth delivered the final blow. The Noah just stood there watching the smoke dissipate, his expression was unreadable. I stalked over to him and had my sword at his throat within seconds.

The Noah in Allen's body sighed. "You know, there's no need for this. I have no intention of harming my nephew. He's free to go once I'm done with him."

"Like I would believe that." I hissed at him and moved my sword ever so slightly. "...'Nephew'?"

He sighed again. The exasperated tone was not lost on me. "Yes. Did you not know that? My name is Neah Walker. My brother Mana was Allen's adoptive father. My ending up here was an unfortunate accident. I would never intentionally hurt my family."

If it was possible I glared even deeper at him. This guy was full of contradictions. "Didn't you betray the Noah family?"

He snorted. "That's different."

"How so?"

Neah looked me up and down critically for a moment before he spoke. "The Noah are a family in much the same way that the Order is. There's no actual blood connection."

"Wouldn't that same thing apply to Allen though?" Teidoll spoke from over my shoulder. Apparently he _was_ paying attention to the conversation.

The Noah laughed, his focus turned on Teidoll. "That's an interesting question coming from you. Don't you think of this angry guy with the sword as your son?"

"Touché." Teidoll conceded and backed away. He went over to where the finders were gathered and started bossing them around.

"Che. We've gotten off topic." I adjusted my grip on Mugen, reclaiming the Noah's attention.

Neah laughed again, seemingly unbothered by the sword at his throat. "I know you're not going to kill me."

"What in the _hell_ would make you think that?"

The Noah snorted. " _Allen_ may be clueless, but I know love when I see it. You can't do anything to me without doing it to him."

I think my heart skipped a beat as I panicked slightly at those words. "That's not going to stop me."

He laughed as he nodded. "I suppose not. You did stab him in the stomach without a second thought not that long ago. Thank you for that, by the way."

I growled, but that only made him laugh more. "Anyway, as I've told you repeatedly now, Allen is in no danger from me. And I can prove it to you."

In the time it took me to wonder what he meant by that, Allen's skin returned to its usual pale coloring and his eyes flashed silver as he blinked. "Kanda? What happened? Where's...?"

The question trailed off as he looked around and noticed Mugen at his throat. He jumped slightly and tried to shove the sword away. "Gah! What the hell are you doing, Bakanda?!"

"Moyashi?" His aura had returned to normal, but I kept my sword steady anyway.

"My name is Allen, Bakanda! _Al-len_! How stupid are you if you can't even get a person's name right?!"

The Moyashi's attempts to move my sword stopped as his stomach growled. He paled and collapsed to his knees. I hid my worry behind a glare. "What kind of game do you think you're playing, Moyashi?"

He hissed at the nickname, but it turned into a wince. He shoved it aside and laughed, but the sound gave away how much pain he was in. "Heh. Apparently letting ...Neah take over is just as ...draining as when he does it without my permission. ... Do you think I could ...get some ...food before I ...pass out...?"

"Che. Baka." Only Allen would care about food at a time like this. It was something else he said that bothered me though. But Teidoll came back over before I could ask the brat about it.

"What's going on?" His worry was directed at Allen, but the question was directed at me.

I rolled my eyes as I sheathed my sword. "Che. The brat's back."

Allen glared at me before smiling at Teidoll. "Hello General. Are you-?"

Whatever the Moyashi was about to ask was cut off by a groan. He convulsed for a few seconds then fell limp. He suddenly glared up at me. "Hey, Bakanda! Make yourself useful and go find Johnny before he electrocutes me again."

"Che. Why do I have to do that?"

"You're the moron who stuck this idiotic contraption on me!" He thrust his wrist in the air and shook it at me.

"Che. If you hadn't tried to run away, I wouldn't have had to."

The Moyashi's retort was drowned out by Teidoll laughing. "Goodness! Can you two do anything without bickering? You do realize that this situation is serious, right?"

"Che." I glared at my former teacher for a moment before turning back to Allen. "Can I leave you alone here without you trying to run away again?"

Allen glared back at me. "Of course."

Teidoll spoke before I could retort. "I'll keep an eye on him, Yuu. He's not going anywhere." The Moyashi's stomach growled, making Teidoll laugh as he gestured to one of the finders. "You'll probably be back before he's done eating."

Fetching Johnny was simple; getting him to stop freaking out when I brought him back was a different story though. But Allen was there, acting perfectly content, and that calmed the scientist down quite a bit.

True to Teidoll's prediction, Allen was still stuffing his face. The finders were much more relaxed though, and that made me suspicious. The feeling was only heightened when Teidoll approached me and handed me my golem. "I spoke to headquarters."

I glared at him, but that only made him laugh at me. "Technically, I spoke with Komui. We bought you three a month. You, Johnny, and Allen have thirty days to travel around and figure out what's going on with the Noah inside Allen. You can do whatever you need to, but you have to keep your golem _on_ , and Komui wants weekly phone calls. At the end of that time, no matter what else is going on, all three of you are to return to headquarters. If you don't, you'll be marked as traitors once again, and the Order will resume pursuing you. So I suggest you get this resolved quickly and come home. You have new duties to attend to."

I blinked at him. Apparently I had been wrong in not trusting Teidoll. The frizzy haired man wrapped me in a hug. "Take care of yourself, Yuu."

"Che." It wasn't in my nature to say thank you. I shoved him away, but that just made him laugh again.

.x.x.

At the Moyashi's request, we moved on to a different town. It was an exhausting trip. We kept getting attacked. Apparently the akuma were drawn to the Fourteenth's presence. It was incredibly annoying.

When we finally reached the inn I was ready to collapse. Allen actually did. He fainted in the middle of the lobby. I had to carry the brat up to our room.

He didn't wake up the next morning. According to Johnny, the Moyashi had spent the night tossing and turning. He didn't have a fever, but he was sweating and mumbling in his sleep.

Usually I would have noticed something like that, but I had been exceptionally tired. But what bothered me more than my lack of awareness was the guilt. I actually felt bad for not noticing that the Moyashi was in pain. I cursed myself yet again for falling in love with the brat.

Allen remained unconscious for another two days; his skin occasionally growing dark and fading back to pale. Johnny surmised that he was talking to the Noah inside of him. There was nothing we could do but wait for him to wake up, and be ready with food for when it happened.

But it wasn't Allen who woke up on that third day. It was Neah. Apparently he wanted to talk to _me_. Johnny was sent away; he volunteered to go fetch dinner.

I sat across from the Noah, scowling at him. Seeing that dark complexion and those golden eyes on my Moyashi's face really bothered me. And worse still was that he knew it. The smirk he gave me sent shivers down my spine. "Alright, what do you want?"

"The same thing you want: for me to no longer be inside Allen's body." He laughed once. "It amazes me that he can't see the way you look at him."

"What's the catch?" What he was proposing seemed too good to be true. And it definitely bothered me that he knew _why_ I wanted that.

Neah's answer was actually serious. "I need you to help me find a new host."

I snickered. "Good luck convincing the Moyashi to agree to that."

"He's on the fence about it." Neah shrugged. "He dislikes the idea of sacrificing someone else to save himself, but if it doesn't happen, we'll both die."

His nonchalant tone was definitely contradicting what he was saying. I narrowed my eyes at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Neah sighed. "Allen's the host of a parasitic Innocence and a Noah. If I stay inside of him much longer, those two opposing forces won't just kill him, they'll tear him to shreds. And none of us want _that_ to happen."

"Assuming I believe that," which I did, "why don't you just leave the Moyashi on your own?"

"Because that's not how it works." The Noah seemed annoyed. "I can't leave without someplace to go to."

I snorted in disbelief. Neah scowled at me as he sighed in exasperation. "As I've told you several times: I don't want to hurt Allen. If I could leave on my own, I would. But I can't without help. And before you ask why you should bother helping me: it's not me you'd be helping, it's _Allen_. If you ever want the chance to do any of those ...naughty things that you want to do to him, then you have no choice but to help me."

"I object to the insinuation that my attraction to the Moyashi is merely sexual." I honestly put no thought into the retort, it just came out.

Neah smirked at me. "I know that, but thanks for admitting it out loud. It'll make it that much easier to manipulate you later."

I growled at him, but that only made him laugh. "So will you help willingly, or do I actually have to threaten you?"

.x.x.

It surprised me that Johnny was on board with finding a new host for the Fourteenth. He seemed like he'd be squeamish about something like that, but he threw himself into it wholeheartedly. But then, he really did care for the Moyashi. He was so much like Alma in that respect.

It took six days to find a host that Neah approved of. I didn't pay much attention to who, I just wanted things to be over. The Fourteenth Noah was honestly one of the most annoying people I'd ever met. To be fair though, that was probably because he was so similar to the Moyashi. They both knew how to push my buttons. And of course Neah teased me about my crush on Allen every chance he got.

It wasn't over though. Not by a long shot. Neah still needed Allen's help. And Allen was all for helping him. Apparently during those three days when the Moyashi was unconscious, Neah had shown him the circumstances leading up to him trying to kill the Earl. Those details weren't shared with me, but whatever they were, they made Allen eager to help the Noah.

Things were only made worse by the telepathic link the two now shared. They'd go off into their own little world at a moment's notice, and it drove me crazy.

I followed them around without paying much attention to what they were doing, I was concerned only with fighting the akuma that came our way. But from what I did see, it was mostly menial things they were doing, I didn't see what Neah needed Allen for.

The worst part was that Allen kept questioning what I was doing there. I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him it was because I loved him, so I made up some lie about owing him for what he did for me and Alma. He didn't buy it, but I stubbornly clung to the lie anyway.

Three of our four weeks were up when I finally ran out of patience with both of them and dragged everyone back to the Order. And that was the end of it. I was officially promoted. Johnny was accepted back into the science group. Neah, after sharing his story with the higher ups, was begrudgingly classified as an ally. And the Moyashi was once again placed on restricted duty under the supervision of Howard Link.

It put a swift end to my plan of talking to Allen once things cooled down. To be honest though, I never would have gone through with it anyway. I was too convinced that the Moyashi hated me.

.x.x.

~Present Day~

 _Lenalee cocked her head to the side and gave Kanda the look she'd perfected when they were children. He was powerless against it. "What exactly happened during those three weeks you were with Allen? It's been four and a half months and we still haven't been told anything. All we know is that at the end of it you'd been promoted and Allen was free."_

Kanda scoffed at her. "That's because that's all that happened. Everything else was pointless."

Lenalee pouted at the answer and that made Lavi laugh. "Did you actually expect a real answer, Lenalee? You know Kanda's no good at telling stories."

She sighed. "I guess you're right."

They turned their attention back to Allen and Neah, but the pair were still off in their own little world. Eventually Lavi and Lenalee got bored and headed back to dinner. They didn't question Kanda's reluctance to leave, incorrectly assuming that the samurai didn't trust the Noah.

Allen's story ended the second he realized that Lavi and Lenalee had left. He exchanged a glance with Kanda and then turned his anger on Neah. _**You knew all along that Kanda liked me!**_

 _ **I did.**_ Neah sighed. _**And I probably should have told you both the truth, but I needed him to help, and he wasn't going to do that if he knew your feelings. After that it just became too much fun to mess with the two of you.**_

The huff Allen gave sounded remarkably like one of Kanda's 'che's. It almost made the Noah laugh. _**You're together now though, so everything worked out in the end, right?**_

 _ **I guess so.**_ Allen frowned.

The Noah suddenly smirked. _**Is he any good?**_

"Neah!" The name was shrieked as Allen turned bright red.

"I was joking. Please keep that bedroom stuff to yourselves." Neah chuckled at the looks the young men gave him. "Now, Allen, if you're certain you're ok, I'll be on my way. I still have things to do today."

At Allen's nod, the Noah turned around and returned to the Ark, completely ignoring Kanda pointing Mugen in his direction.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: It's been a few weeks, but here's chapter 16. Finally. I've actually done a lot of writing in my brief absence, it's just that none of it was on stories that I'm actually posting. -_-

Anyway, as I said a few chapters ago, this chapter is the last of Allen's convalescence.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The day after Neah's spontaneous visit was spent training with Marie. Just him and me alone, like I had been hoping for with the previous day's session. Miranda went with Kanda on his daily mission, and my other friends had dispersed to their own duties.

It was weird being alone with Marie. Though that awkwardness faded once I finally figured out that he didn't know that I knew Kanda's past. He warmed up to me after I explained that I knew all about the Second Exorcist Project.

While I trained, he asked me all sorts of questions about my relationship with Kanda. They were embarrassing, he did know that we were sleeping together after all, but for the most part it felt like I was talking to Kanda's brother. Marie was probably one of the very few people at the Order who actually liked Kanda, and he didn't judge me at all for falling in love with him, something everyone else would have called me crazy for.

It was surprising how much training my heightened senses helped me adjust to being a neko. After two days of walking around blindfolded, my awareness of my cat parts had faded. I no longer jumped when I saw my tail out of the corner of my eye. The feel of it moving behind me no longer weirded me out either. It had all become second nature to me. Even seeing in the dark seemed perfectly natural now.

Kanda's day with Miranda didn't go quite as well, but then he had an off-putting personality and she scared easily. He was incredibly frustrated with her by the time they got back. I was perfectly fine with him taking his frustrations out on me. Lenalee's comment from a couple days earlier still nagged at me, but I decided that I liked the sex too much to stop for the offhanded chance that it was hindering my recovery.

For my third day of training with Marie, he decided that I needed a sparring partner. And so he made Kanda stay home. It was hard fighting with him now that I no longer wanted rip his guts out. But fortunately being blindfolded made it much easier to focus.

I got so into the fight that I didn't even notice what I was doing. And it wasn't until afterwards, as I was pulling off my blindfold, that anyone said anything to me about it. Miranda was giving me a strange look. "What's wrong, Miranda?"

"Nothing's wrong... It's just that... I thought you said that you can't activate your Innocence..."

I frowned at her. "No, I said it's draining me more than usual, so I can't activate it for very long. Why?"

Kanda snorted. "Could you really not tell, Moyashi?"

"'Tell' what, Bakanda?" I nearly shouted the words, Kanda's tone had clearly indicated that he thought I was an idiot.

"You had your Innocence activated for that whole last round, Allen."

Marie's words stopped me in my tracks. Had I really...? Yes, I had. I'd been fighting with my Innocence activated and hadn't even noticed. Even now, I didn't feel anywhere near as drained as I had the last time I'd activated it. It felt... _normal_. "Oh. No, I hadn't noticed."

Kanda scoffed at me, but I ignored him. I was too concerned with what was happening with my Innocence. "I guess it's back to normal now?"

"Is that a question or a statement, Moyashi?"

I stuck my tongue out at him, then I stalked back to the center of the room. If my Innocence was truly recovered, then there was only one way to find out. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Then I grabbed my wrist and drew my sword.

It looked and felt exactly like it always had. Despite Hevlaska's assurances, part of me had still been afraid that it wasn't going to work anymore. Seeing it now was an amazing relief.

And better still was that it wasn't excessively draining me. The last time I had activated it, just five days earlier, it had taken so much out of me and I hadn't even done anything with it.

I felt free. And in a sense I was: with my Innocence back to normal, I should be allowed to resume my exorcist duties. I would no longer be stuck at headquarters.

Deactivating my Innocence, I thanked Marie for all his help, and then I sprinted to Komui's office.

.x.x.

I couldn't help laughing at the way the Moyashi ran from the room. He was so excited that he was literally bouncing with each step he took. It made his ears shake, and that was adorable. I don't know where he got the energy from, I hadn't gone easy on him while we were sparring.

Feeling someone smirking at me, I turned to face Marie, my smile fading into a scowl. "What?"

He smiled brightly at me, and that only made me scowl more. "I can't remember the last time you were that happy, Kanda. And I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before. You're actually serious about this thing with Allen, aren't you?"

"Che. Don't ask stupid questions, Marie."

He laughed again. "That's not what I meant, Kanda. I know you love him. But I was under the impression that this was a fling that you would eventually get bored with. But now I wonder... You actually see yourself spending the rest of your life with Allen, don't you?"

It was a loaded question coming from the one married man I knew. I clicked my tongue. Damn Marie always went straight for the difficult, emotional questions. And he wouldn't let me dodge the question either, he was too familiar with my evasion tricks. That didn't mean I wasn't going to try though. "I don't think I'll ever get bored of the Moyashi, he's too unpredictable."

"And...?"

"Che. We've only been together for a few weeks, it's too soon to talk of the rest of our lives." Never mind that given our high risk positions 'the rest of our lives' had the potential to be even less than 'a few weeks'. But that wasn't something I wanted to think about.

"Kanda."

Damn Marie. "... Yes."

I was immediately wrapped in a tight hug. "Come on, Marie. Let go."

He didn't. In fact, he was still hugging me when Teidoll walked into the room just minutes later. He had come to fetch Marie and Miranda to get back out in the field, but he was not going to pass on an opportunity to fawn over me, even if he had no clue why Marie was so excited. The old artist started making a fuss the second he saw us. He joined the hug, and I could do nothing but stand there until he decided to let go.

When I finally escaped, I headed for the cafeteria. I had no idea where the Moyashi had run off to, so rather than wasting my time and energy on searching for him, I went to get dinner. He'd show up again when it was most convenient for him.

I got roped into sitting with Lenalee and a few of the other exorcists who were at headquarters. Someday I would have to learn how to say no to her. But then again, the Moyashi would want to sit with his friends, so if I wanted to sit with him, I'd have to sit with them. I half listened to their inane chatter, not really interested in what they were saying but not having anything else to do.

I noticed something was wrong with Allen the second he walked into the cafeteria. That enthusiasm he'd had earlier was completely gone. Sure he was hiding it well from everyone else, but I saw through it. He came and sat with us after he'd ordered, his usual fake smile on his face.

Forcing my best disinterested face, I took advantage of the fact that he couldn't use food to ignore the question. "What's wrong, Moyashi?"

He hissed at me. "Nothing's wrong, Bakanda!"

Lenalee snorted and choked on her mouthful of spaghetti. Allen tried to help her, but stopped when he realized she was laughing at him. "You're lying, Allen."

"What?! I am not! I'm fine!"

Lenalee shook her head at him. "You're not fine. I can tell. Your ears are giving you away."

 _The Moyashi has a tell? How come I didn't notice that?_

Allen frowned. "You're making that up."

"I'm not. Lavi and I noticed it about a week ago. Whenever you lie to us your cat ears twitch." She gave him a stern glare. "I'm a little offended that you lie to me that often."

The Moyashi immediately turned red. I snorted. "Not that I care," a lie but I hid it well, "but the Moyashi doesn't like to make people worry. The idiot is lying to you because he thinks he's protecting you by doing it."

"Hey! I do not do that! Keep your opinions to yourself, Bakanda!" Now that I knew about it, I easily caught the twitch Lenalee was referring to.

She saw it too and wrapped Allen in a hug. He glared daggers at me. "Aww. Thank you for worrying about me, Allen. But you can stop now. I'd much rather have the truth, ok?"

He frowned and shoved her away. "Any other embarrassing habits I should know about?"

The question was sarcastic and that made it easier for me to comment on the neko trait I _had_ noticed. "You play with the tip of your tail when you're nervous."

Allen froze. He was across the table from me, so I couldn't see him doing it, but I knew from his expression that he had just become aware of what his hands were currently doing. He slowly and deliberately placed his hands up on the table. "That was rhetorical, Bakanda."

Lenalee placed a hand on his shoulder. "Allen. Just tell us what's wrong and we'll stop trying to embarrass you."

He frowned deeply. "Fine. But you have to promise not to tell Lavi."

Lenalee nodded vigorously. He leaned in closer so that only we would be able to hear him, and waited a moment before he spoke. "I ...shrunk."

"You shrunk?" Lenalee was obviously confused.

Allen sighed. "I just had a physical. I'm an inch shorter than I was when I first became a neko."

Lenalee put her arm around his shoulders. It made my possessive side angry. I was also jealous that she could touch him like that in public and I couldn't. "An inch is no big deal, Allen. You're still growing, you'll get it back."

He shook his head and dropped his gaze to his lap. I knew he was playing with his tail again. "That's just it. Komui says I'm not. The stress of becoming half cat stunted my growth. This is as tall as I'm going to get."

His food arrived then, and he threw himself at it. It was obvious from his body language that interrupting him while he was eating was a death sentence.

I finished my soba, lost in thought about what I'd just learned. Allen was officially short. He couldn't blame it on me being tall anymore. That wouldn't stop him from trying though. I was a little sad because I knew how much it bothered him, but mostly I was glad. We fit together so well physically, and I no longer had to worry about him having a growth spurt and changing that.

Done eating, I stood up to leave, but was stopped by the Moyashi. "Kanda, don't leave yet."

"Why not, Moyashi?"

He flinched a little at the glare I gave him. "Ah, umm, Komui wants to see us both in his office after dinner."

"Let me guess, now that you're all better he wants to put us on a mission together." I scowled at him, though I was nowhere near as angry as I was pretending to be.

"Probably." Allen frowned and turned back to his food.

"Perfect." I continued to walk away, but I didn't make it far. Lenalee grabbed my elbow. I growled at her, but I couldn't shake her off like I wanted to.

It was the Moyashi she was focused on though. "Wait, wait, wait. You're _better_?! When did this happen? And why didn't you say anything?!"

Allen blushed in embarrassment, his ears pinned back against his head. "Sorry. Umm. Yes, my Innocence is back to its normal strength. We figured it out during training this afternoon. It kinda got forgotten because of the whole ...shrinking thing."

Not wanting to stay while Lenalee guilt-tripped the Moyashi, I moved my arm to try to get her to let go of me. But that only turned her irritation on me. "And you knew about this, Kanda?"

"Che. I was there when it happened."

She immediately released me. "Oh. Ok."

Apparently she wasn't upset with me, she was upset because she thought the Moyashi told me instead of her. She really needed to let go of that crush she had on him. But I didn't dwell on that, I had other things occupying my thoughts.

I put my tray away and left the cafeteria. I didn't go far though; I knew Allen was nearly finished eating and he'd be catching up to me soon. Not even five minutes later, he found me where I was waiting in the next hall. We walked towards Komui's office in silence.

At least until the Moyashi decided to break it. "You're awfully quiet, Yuu. Is something bothering you?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I was just trying to figure out how Lavi and Lenalee noticed that thing with your ears, but I didn't."

He laughed a little as he smiled. "That's because I don't have to lie to you, Bakanda. You didn't notice it because you don't see it as often as they do."

Before I could question what he meant by that, he sighed. "I'm going to have to figure out how to control it if I don't want to give away our relationship."

.x.x.

As Kanda had predicted, they were being sent on a mission together. But it wasn't quite what either of them had expected:

Kanda was to accompany Allen to the Asian Branch the next day, and observe a fight between Allen and Fou. Kanda, as the General most familiar with Allen's fighting style, would then have the final say as to whether or not Allen was truly recovered enough to return to missions.

.x.x.

It took Fou all of five minutes to figure out that Kanda I were sleeping together. She teased us mercilessly about being gay while we sparred. It even took precedence over me being half cat, though she _had_ taken to calling me 'Kitten'. It was irritating, but it was Fou. It was more or less what I expected from her.

The homophobic slurs were a little much though. I knew she didn't mean any of her sharp words, she always stopped whenever someone came to check on us, but they were still hard to take.

And I had no choice but to suck it up and take it; I would hear worse if my relationship with Kanda ever reached the rest of the Order. It was an unbelievable stroke of luck that everyone who knew so far was accepting of us.

Sparring with Fou felt great though. It was nice to go all out and test the limits of my strength and flexibility. And by the time we were done, I was more excited than I already was to be getting back to missions.

Fou congratulated us on our relationship before we left. I turned bright red when she told Kanda, "You better take care of your kitten or face my wrath."

He scowled at her for the way she said it, but I could tell that he was happy. His possessive side was thrilled that someone else thought of me as his. And after three weeks together, I had to admit that I liked it too.

.x.x.

Kanda's report of "the Moyashi didn't die, so he must be fine" didn't exactly thrill Komui. But the Supervisor knew that if the samurai didn't truly believe that Allen had recovered then he wouldn't have okayed the younger's return to active duty.

That didn't keep Komui from worrying about the neko though. Not when protecting the exorcists was his purpose in life. Allen may have been ready to go on missions again, but the Supervisor wasn't ready to send him on any. But he couldn't do that without cause, and there was none.

So after some thought, he came up with a way to do both. There was, after all, a certain General who was a creature of habit and returned to headquarters every night to sleep in his own bed. It would be really easy to order Allen to accompany said General for a week or two until Komui was satisfied that he truly was back to full strength.

Although, ordering _Allen_ to accompany _Kanda_ might just endanger the neko's life even more than an actual mission would. The two seemed to hate each other more than ever now that Allen was half cat.

On the other hand, Kanda was still looking for the ever elusive General Cross Marian. And Allen was regarded as the expert in that arena; the duo _had_ already successfully located the man once before. Sending them out together could end up killing two birds with one stone.

As Komui expected, the pair didn't take the news of their mission well. Though if he had known Allen's tell, the neko's ears would have completely given away the teen's true feelings. Instead the Supervisor had to send them off thinking that being on a mission together was the last place either of them wanted to be.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: School starts back up on Monday. I'm going to try to get Chapter 17 finished and posted in two weeks, but I make no promises.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: This chapter is a good example for why I shouldn't tell you guys my outline… Like I said in last week's update on my profile: this chapter was just supposed to be time passing so that we could get to Allen's eighteenth birthday and my final bit of plot. That didn't happen. -_-

The OC in this chapter was supposed to be a minor character, she was supposed to have one short little crack scene and then disappear forever. She hijacked her quarter of a chapter and turned it into a major story arc. -_-

I have mixed feelings about it, as I don't particularly care for OCs when reading fanfiction, but I think she turned out pretty good.

Anyway, you guys don't care about that, right? You just want to see more of Neko Allen…

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Allen and Kanda's initial week together flew by. There were a few hiccups, Kanda was not understanding when Allen decided he was uncomfortable with having his ears visible in public. He very much disliked the scarf the younger began tying around his head. But in the end he shut up about it; wearing the thing made Allen feel better and he wasn't going to jeopardize their relationship over something as ridiculous as a scarf.

To Allen the scarf was necessary. He couldn't explain it to Kanda, it always came across as embarrassment. But the truth was that he was scared. Terrified even. The scars from his childhood were still fresh. None of his endless optimism could erase the memories of how poorly people had treated him because of his arm. And he knew deep down that they would treat him that same way for being a neko, if not worse. So he hid his ears and tail; if no one saw them then he wouldn't be mistreated.

That wasn't Allen's only frustration either. Komui had decided that with Timcanpy gone, it was time for Allen to start carrying one of the Order's golems. Not only was the thing a constant reminder of Timcanpy's absence, but it got on Allen's nerves. The way it flitted around his head irritated his cat instincts, distracting him and making him swat at it.

Kanda thought it was hilarious watching Allen freak out at a golem. But he knew his lover was getting frustrated, so he took pity on him. After watching the neko swat at his golem for the tenth time in the last half hour, Kanda sighed. "Moyashi. If it bothers you that much, turn it off for a while. Komui will understand."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. It's just so damn obnoxious- oops." Allen smiled sheepishly at the dead golem on the ground. He'd caught it with his last swipe, impaling it on his claws.

Kanda laughed at the look on Allen's face, like he was a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar (which he thought was a rather appropriate analogy given the neko's obsession with food). But Kanda laughing made the expression fade, and Allen launched himself at his lover. Instead of arguing over what had happened, the couple ended up making out in the middle of the street.

When they returned home that first night, Komui was not nearly as amused over the destruction of the golem as they were. But when the second and third golems met the same fate as the first, the Supervisor finally gave up and let Allen proceed without one.

Aside from that, the week was perfect. It was practically a honeymoon for the young lovers. Even if looking for Cross was a major headache.

The redheaded General knew that they were looking for him, and so he made things especially difficult for them. It was his way of checking on Allen. Making the pair jump through hoops was his way of making sure that his idiot apprentice was mentally ok after everything that had happened. And it was just plain fun to mess with the young lovers.

But they didn't mind, much. After all, they were together. And being able to have sex every night made up for anything traumatic Cross put them through.

Their next week wasn't quite so fun. After the high of their one month anniversary wore off, reality started to set in. And all those little things that bothered them from back when they were pretending to hate each other resurfaced.

It was hard, but they were determined to work through it. Neither wanted to see their relationship crumble so quickly after it began. Kanda especially wanted to stick with it; after all of the crap Marie had given him he was not going to give the other man the satisfaction of seeing it fail. Allen had similar motives, but they were aimed at a different person. He knew that he would never hear the end of it from Cross if this relationship died.

They made it through it though. And the love that blossomed from it was stronger than ever before. Like Kanda had tried and failed to convince Allen of a few weeks earlier, their relationship now truly went deeper than sex.

.x.x.

Time passed and the weather got colder. The pair went on more missions, both together and apart, and life went on. Cross was still nowhere to be found. Then the beginning of December came. And Neah was suddenly requesting Allen's assistance.

Central was less than thrilled with the request. Letting Allen and Neah go off together after everything that happened seemed like asking for trouble. But they couldn't deny the request, not without risking pissing off their Noah ally.

So Lavi was sent with the pair. The Bookman in training was more than happy to go with them. He wanted to see them in action.

Neither Neah nor Allen were thrilled to have him tagging along. The Fourteenth Noah even going so far as to only communicate using his telepathic link with his nephew. He didn't object to having an exorcist escorting them, but he was definitely peeved that that exorcist was one of the Bookmen. Allen was never outright rude to Lavi, but the redhead picked up on the neko's displeasure with his presence.

But even if they weren't speaking out loud it was still interesting to watch them together. Especially Allen. The white haired neko had obviously completely forgiven the Noah for possessing him, and Lavi couldn't help wondering if Allen had ever blamed Neah in the first place. They seemed to be the best of friends.

It wasn't that far from the truth. They saw Mana in each other, and at least for Allen it was cathartic. Being around Neah allowed him to let go of the pain he held, and it accelerated the healing process that had begun when he joined the Order.

Like Kanda, Lavi couldn't figure out what Neah needed Allen for. Aside from a lone gambling incident, everything they did was completely menial. Well, there were a lot of akuma to fight, but the Noah could hold his own with them, and that only proved that he needed an exorcist, not that he needed Allen.

So when the call came through for a real mission, Lavi was all too happy to drag Allen away from his uncle.

.x.x.

Lavi and I had been in this town for two days now. The first day had been spent defeating the akuma that had killed all the finders. Unfortunately they died before they located the Innocence, and so we now had to look for it from scratch. Which was made all the more difficult by us not knowing what the mysterious phenomenon was that it was causing. And the Order wasn't going to send us any more finders because of the large number of akuma still in the area. My only consolation in being dragged away from Neah was that it was warm here.

Our second day of wandering around town talking to people finally yielded something. It was a rather pathetic something, but it was a clue nonetheless.

There was a woman in town who was able to grow fruits and vegetables that weren't normally grown in the area, and she did it without the aid of a greenhouse. The woman, Camilla, had always made her living growing things, but about a month ago things changed. There was a rash of mysterious deaths in the town, and the only thing the victims had in common were foods purchased from Camilla. No one blamed her though, as it was a stupid connection: _everyone_ in town purchased her produce. And apparently she was too nice to do anything like that, as she gave away more produce than she sold.

Lavi was really bummed that our only lead on a mysterious happening was something so menial, and I couldn't help laughing at him. "They can't all be vampire hunts."

He snorted. "I guess that's true. But did you have to remind me of man-eating plants right now? We _are_ on our way to interview a gardener..."

We both shuddered as we stopped in front of the house the townspeople had directed us to. It looked normal enough, just like the rest of the houses on the block, but with the memory of nearly being eaten alive now fresh in my mind I was definitely on edge.

Nevertheless, we had to go knock on the door. We were on a mission after all.

Or rather, _I_ had to knock on the door. Lavi was being a wimp about the plant thing, and made me do it. I tried to argue with him, but it was hard when he pointed out that I was less than a month from being promoted. "You're the critical, Allen. It's your job to do stuff like this."

We felt a lot better when the door was answered by a normal looking young woman who wasn't much older than we were. Her skin was tanned from working outside and her rolled up overalls were stained with dirt. Factor in the straw hat and the way her hair was braided, and this was definitely the woman we were looking for. "Hello. Umm, we're-"

She smiled brightly and started babbling before I could really say anything. "Hi! You're new in town, right? I'm Camilla. Mrs. Anderson sent you, didn't she? I'm not sure what she told you I could give you, but I'm sure we can work something out. Well, don't just stand there, come in!"

At her beckoning we stepped into the house and followed her to the back room. She talked the entire time, and I got the impression that she really loved gardening. And as much as she loved that, she loved feeding people even more.

When she wasn't talking, she was sneezing. Aside from telling her our names, Lavi and I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Not that I cared. The room she led us to was filled with fruits and vegetables...

.x.x.

"Allen... Hey, Allen!" Lavi snapped his fingers in front of the neko's face, but got no response. He turned to smile at Camilla. It was funny, normally he was the one freaking out around the pretty girl. "Sorry about him. He thinks with his stomach."

She laughed, but then abruptly sneezed. "Well how about if we go in to the sitting room and get him away from all this, ok?"

"Sounds good." Lavi echoed her laughter as he grabbed Allen by the shoulders and steered him back into the house.

Allen came back to his senses once they were out of the storeroom. He smiled sheepishly at Camilla, but she waved him off before he could apologize. "Don't worry about it. It was really flattering. Now, you said you had *achoo* some questions for me?"

The neko nodded. "Yeah. We're from the Black Order," he paused while the dark haired woman sneezed again, "and we're here investigating the recent string of mysterious-"

Another sneeze cut him off. He smiled gently at her. "Are you ok?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I'm *achoo* fine. The neighbor's cat must have gotten in the house, that's all. I *achoo* I'm allergic to cats."

Lavi snickered at the deadpan expression on Allen's face. But the look morphed quickly to a deep scowl as the neko turned to the redhead. "Say one word and I'll break your nose again."

Dark side gone, Allen turned to smile at Camilla. "I think I dropped something important outside earlier. I'm going to go look for it. The two of you can talk without me."

Allen escorted himself outside. Turning his frustration into physical energy, he climbed the tree in Camilla's front yard and perched on a branch. Taking advantage of the cover, he removed the scarf from his head and freed his tail from his jacket. It was hard not to pout. He hadn't thought that someone with cat allergies could be allergic to him. And now he was going to miss out on all those delicious looking vegetables. At least with his ears free he could hear what was happening inside.

Camilla gave Lavi a concerned look. "Is he ok?"

"Probably not, but it's nothing you did, so don't worry about it."

"Then what-?"

Lavi held up his hands to stop her. "If it bothers you that much you can ask him later, but right now we have important things to attend to."

Camilla nodded and returned to her seat. She thought it odd that her sneezing stopped when the boy with the bandana left, but she didn't connect the two. "Right. Allen said you're investigating something. How can I help you?"

"We heard from the villagers that there have been a lot of unexplained deaths in the last month or so." It didn't escape Lavi's notice that Camilla began playing nervously with the end of her braid. Maybe there _was_ some connection between her and whatever was going on. "We also heard that the only thing they had in common was that they had recently purchased _your_ produce..."

"It's so awful!" Camilla was barely holding back her tears. "It makes me sick to my stomach to think that people might have died from eating the food I've grown. You're from some government agency, right? Are you here to arrest me?"

Lavi frowned. It was no longer funny that this woman was allergic to cats, Allen was so much better at this than he was. "No. We're looking for something called Innocence, and we think you might have come into contact with it."

It would have been an understatement to say that Camilla was confused. "Innocence? I've never heard of that before. What's it look like? How would I know if I've had contact with it? And why did you ask about the deaths if you're not interested in them?"

"I should have been more specific: we think you, the Innocence, and the deaths are all connected. Innocence causes mysterious things to happen, and it's possible that it could have caused those deaths." Lavi finally had enough. As soon as he was done explaining, he hissed under his breath. "Bean Sprout, I know you can hear me. I don't care if she starts sneezing again, just get your butt back in here."

Camilla didn't catch Lavi's whisper. "I don't understand. If this Innocence made people die, then does that mean it's poisonous?"

"Yes and no." Allen spoke as he appeared inside the doorway, maybe if he kept his distance he wouldn't trigger Camilla's allergies. "It's hard to explain without sounding crazy, but Innocence is perfectly safe for humans. It is, however, incredibly dangerous to akuma, living weapons powered by souls that kill the humans who call them back and then take their forms. If Innocence is what caused those people's deaths, then it's because they weren't human anymore; they had been turned into akuma."

Camilla blinked at him; what he was saying was beyond weird, but if he was right then she wasn't inadvertently responsible for anyone's death. "So this Innocence just goes around killing people that are already dead?"

Allen shook his head. "Normally, no. An Innocence fragment needs an accommodator in order to unleash its true power. Once it bonds with a human host, that human can then become an exorcist and use the Innocence to destroy akuma. That's what Lavi and I are: exorcists."

When Camilla remained silent, Lavi picked up the narrative. "On its own, Innocence can only cause strange phenomenon: freak weather, living dolls, vampires. We've never heard of a case like this one where the Innocence is fighting on its own. And that's where you come in."

Camilla squeaked. "Me? What do _I_ have to do with this?"

"Your produce is the only link between the victims. That makes us think that the Innocence is somewhere in your garden. Its power is infecting your produce, and then when akuma come in contact with those fruits and vegetables, the power of the Innocence kills them. It may even be that you're the accommodator of this Innocence fragment."

Allen's words put Camilla on edge. "What exactly is it that you want from me? If what you suspect is true, what happens next?"

"If the Innocence really is in your garden, we'll have to find it and take it back to the Order with us." Allen frowned. It was impossible to tell how people would take this next part. "And if you're the Innocence's accommodator, we'll have to bring you with us as well."

"I thought you said you weren't here to arrest me!" Camilla stood from her seat and shouted at Lavi.

Allen sighed and stepped into the room just long enough to guide Camilla back to her seat. "We're not. It's more like a recruitment. If you're the accommodator, then you have the power to become an exorcist. In that case, we'd bring you back to headquarters so that you can learn to fight akuma."

"And if I don't want to go?" Camilla had gathered from Allen's tone that she wouldn't have a choice, and that scared her. But she wasn't scared of either of the young men in her sitting room, there was just something about them, Allen especially, that said she could trust them. So she asked the question to see if they'd outright lie to her.

"If you are an accommodator, then you won't have a choice. It's too dangerous for you to stay here."

"'Dangerous'?" Camilla laughed in disbelief. "What kind of danger could I possibly be in here? *Achoo* You did say that the Innocence is safe, right?"

Allen sighed and scratched his ear through his bandana. "Yes and no. It in and of itself is safe, but by having it you're attracting the attention of some very bad people. The Millennium Earl and the Noah family control the akuma, and they're seeking to destroy the Innocence, and will harm anyone in their way. By being the accommodator of an Innocence fragment, you'd become a target."

Camilla just gaped at Allen. But as she processed what he had said she got mad. "So you're asking me to pack up and move from the only home I've ever known, because someone out there is trying to kill me?!"

Lavi held his hands up. "Hold on a minute there, Cami-chan. We're all getting a little ahead of ourselves. We don't know if the Innocence is even here, much less if you're its accommodator."

She sighed and sank back into her chair. "How will you figure that out?" She suddenly got fierce again. "You're not planning on digging up my garden are you?!"

"If we have no other choice, then we'll have to, but neither of us want that." Allen smiled brightly at her. "All we really need is for you to answer some questions. If the Innocence is truly here, then you've probably seen it."

"Ask your questions then." Camilla was worried as to what those questions would be, but so long as it meant keeping her garden intact she would do her best to answer them.

"What happened a month ago? Before the deaths started, did something strange happen?" Allen frowned and then clarified. "Did anything, anything at all, happen that was out of the ordinary?"

"I really don't know... That's such a vague question..." Camilla scowled at her lap as she thought. "Oh wait! There was that thing with the rock!"

"What happened?" Lavi was alert, ready to record every detail of her story.

Camilla bent down and started untying her right boot. "About a month ago, I stepped on a rock while I was out working in my garden and it got stuck in my foot. The doctor tried to remove it, but he couldn't get it out. He ended up just leaving it there, thinking it would work its way out on its own."

She sighed as she pulled off her sock. "It doesn't hurt, so I don't really mind, but I wish the rash would go away. I hate wearing shoes."

Camilla's entire right foot was mottled with red, it looked just like a rash. But the rock embedded in the bottom of her foot... Even from across the room, Allen recognized it as an Innocence fragment. The boys shared a look, and Allen sighed before he spoke. "Earlier you asked what Innocence looks like. That's your answer. The green rock embedded in your heel is an Innocence fragment."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: So yeah, Camilla was just supposed to be a random girl on a random mission who happened to be allergic to cats, and therefore Allen. Then this happened. But don't worry, I have big plans for her... ;)

A/N #3: Chapter 18 is written, but I'm going to stick with my current update schedule. You'll see it in two weeks.

A/N #4: Speaking of Chapter 18... If you have thoughts or opinions regarding what Camilla's activated Innocence should look like, I would _love_ to hear them. I have something written, but in my opinion it's lame. Maybe you guys can come up with something cooler. (The same goes for Lavi's nickname for her too...)


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: So this is my original version of Camilla's Innocence. Thanks for the suggestions, but I couldn't make any of them work. Props to CrescentMoonTenshi for suggesting what I had already written though. It made it feel less lame, thanks. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

" _Earlier you asked what Innocence looks like. That's your answer. The green rock embedded in your heel is an Innocence fragment._ "

Silence followed Allen's words. Neither he nor Lavi had expected finding the Innocence to be that easy. Knowing their luck, they had definitely been expecting to have to fight with this woman and then have to do the manual labor of digging through her garden.

Camilla was not so easily convinced. "I don't buy it. How can the Innocence be in my foot? This is some sort of joke right? Jorge put you up to this, didn't he?"

Allen frowned, and after a moment of thought, he pulled off his bandana. His cat ears twitched as they were freed from their confinement. "I would never joke about something like this."

He continued to talk as Camilla approached him and began to poke at his ears. "Innocence comes in two different types: parasitic and equipment. Lavi's is an equipment-type, and yours and mine are parasite-type. That means that the Innocence is actually a part of our bodies. Yours is what made your foot look like that, and mine is what gave me cat ears."

Camilla backed away as she started sneezing again. Allen smiled gently at her. "Sorry. I'll go back outside now. Lavi can handle the rest."

He made it three steps before a hand on his wrist stopped him. Camilla tugged him back toward the sitting room. "It's just a little sneezing, I'll be ok."

At her bidding, he once again sat on the couch by Lavi. Camilla scowled fiercely at the two. "Do you two really think that I'm just going to come with you? I have a life here; I can't just up and leave it like this."

"Camilla, we understand how hard it is." Allen sighed as he fiddled with the bandana in his hands. "But you have to understand: if you don't, you won't be the only one in danger. You'd be putting the whole town at risk."

"No. I need _you_ to understand _this_. I have a purpose here. When I was a child, this town was plagued with famine. People died of starvation every day. My mother worked herself to the bone to make sure that I would get enough food to survive. But in doing so, she neglected herself and fell victim to the famine. After she died, I taught myself how to grow things. I dedicated my life to gardening so that no one else around me would ever starve to death." Her firm tone suddenly grew angry again. "If I leave, the people here will lose a major food supply, and I can't let things go back to how they were."

Allen sighed again. "We understand, Camilla, but-"

"No. How could the two of you ever possibly understand what it was like to go hungry like that?" Camilla scowled at the obviously well fed young men in front of her. "When was the last time either of you went without food for so long that you thought you weren't going to make it? Have you ever been so hungry that-?"

"That you dug through trash cans looking for anything even remotely edible? Or sat on a street corner and begged passing strangers for spare change just to get something warm to put in your stomach?" Allen smiled gently at the dumbfounded look on Camilla's face. "Don't judge us too quickly, Camilla. I grew up on the streets. I know exactly the kind of deep hunger you're referring to."

In the silence that followed, Allen felt Lavi staring at him. He turned to face the redhead, who was wearing a very confused expression. "What is it Lavi?"

Lavi frowned at his white haired friend. "That wasn't a lie."

Allen blinked at him. "So?"

"Usually when you say things like that to people you're lying to them. But your ears didn't twitch." Lavi's frown deepened. "I thought you and your adoptive father were traveling performers. So which one is the truth? Have you been lying to us all along?"

Allen dropped his gaze to his lap and put his bandana back over his ears. He hadn't expected that involuntary twitch to be just as annoying when he wasn't lying. "This was before that. I didn't even meet Mana until I was seven."

Lavi's anger faded as he realized that Allen had actually revealed something about his past. The neko had never voluntarily given information about himself like that before.

Camilla was confused by the interaction between the two, but she put that aside. She was still angry, but if Allen truly understood where she was coming from then he would have a retort for any argument she came up with.

Turning back to her, Allen smiled. "I know it's a lot to take in, but-"

He stood from the couch as his eye activated. Lavi didn't have to see the monocle appear to know what was happening. "How many?"

"A lot." Allen grit his teeth. "There's a Noah here too."

"How do you know that?" Lavi realized the stupidity of the question from the look Allen gave him. It was obviously a side effect of having been possessed by the Fourteenth. "Right. Do they know where we are?"

"If they don't then it's only a matter of time. They're headed this way." Allen started moving towards the doorway. "I'm going to go try to distract them. Think you can handle things here?"

Lavi nodded. "Sure thing."

Camilla started after him, but she wasn't quick enough to catch him. She turned to Lavi. "What's going on?"

"The short answer is that we need to get ready for a fight. The akuma are coming for you." Lavi pulled his hammer out of its holster, readying himself but not activating it just quite yet.

"How do you know that?" Camilla didn't really believe most of what they had told her; living weapons, magic rocks, it was all ridiculous. But Allen's cat ears had been real enough. And Lavi's tone and body language made her realize that he was serious about the fighting part. Something terrible was coming. "Didn't Allen say that akuma look human?"

Lavi made his way to the window to get a view of the scene outside, but couldn't see anything other than Allen standing a ways down the street. "That's Allen's story to tell, but the short version is that he was cursed as a child and now he can see them for what they are."

Camilla couldn't help voicing her frustration. "Can't you tell the long version of anything?"

"There's no time right now." Lavi smiled at her as he turned back from the window. "There's a Noah, so Allen will probably be too busy with that to be of much help with the akuma. Which means that fighting them will be up to you and me."

"But I can't fight!" The Italian woman was a lover not a fighter; she'd never so much as slapped someone before.

Lavi smiled at the slightly shrieked answer. "Yes, you can. You have an Innocence fragment, all you have to do is activate it and then you'll be able use it."

Camilla stared dumbly at her bare foot for a moment before scowling at Lavi once more. "'Activate it'? What's that supposed to mean?"

The redhead smirked at her, and tossed his hammer in the air. "Innocence, activate." As the hammer spun, it grew to its true size. Lavi caught the handle as it landed beside him.

Camilla blinked a few times, trying to process what she'd just seen. She was more than a little shocked by the unrealistic sight; hammers don't just suddenly grow to fifty times their original size.

Lavi smiled gently at her. "Yours is parasitic, so it'll activate a little differently, but it's really just a matter of focus."

"What do you mean by 'focus'?"

"Concentrate on your connection with the Innocence and will it to activate."

They were interrupted by a crash and a shout from outside. "Lavi!"

.x.x.

Allen stood in the middle of the street, watching as a dark figure in a top hat approached. His tail swished behind him, but he ignored it; the appendage was safely out of view, hidden by his long coat. The man stopped a few feet in front of him and smiled devilishly. "Good afternoon, Shounen."

The neko snorted. "You know, Tyki, I'm almost eighteen, you're going to have to come up with something new to call me."

Tyki laughed, but it faded to a scowl as he took in the boy's exorcist uniform. "You went back to the Order."

"You sound surprised. The Fourteenth left my body over six months ago. Shouldn't that news have reached you by now?" Despite his friendly tone, Allen was ready to activate Crowned Clown at a moment's notice.

"Road _died_ getting you out of there." Tyki's scowl deepened. "Why would you go back?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

The defensive tone made Tyki laugh. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. After all, if you're back with the Order, then that means that you're here on a mission. So where's the Innocence, Shounen?"

Allen snorted again. "Like I'd tell you."

The neko jumped backwards and activated his Innocence as Tyki suddenly launched himself at him. His sword blocked the attack, but he lost his bandana in the process.

The fight stopped as suddenly as it started. Tyki gaped at the cat ears sticking out of the top of his kind-of-sort-of enemy's head. He may have been faking ignorance over the Fourteenth, but _those_ were definitely new.

It took Allen a second to figure out why Tyki was just standing there staring at him like that. When he did, he cursed internally. "Yes, I have cat ears. Can we move on?"

"Is that why you disappeared without a trace for a month? Did the _Order_ do that to you?"

Allen frowned. "The Order had nothing to do with it. I got cursed by a witch."

"Why would a witch- why would _anyone_ want to curse you?"

"Is that concern I hear in your voice, Tyki?" The neko smirked broadly. "Aren't you supposed to be trying to kill me?"

Tyki laughed. "While you've got that sword? No thank you. I know how that fight would end, Shounen. I'm not in the mood to be exorcised today. We'll have to do this a different way..."

Akuma began appearing at the end of the street and Tyki disappeared through a purple ark gate. As soon as the Noah was gone, the akuma launched their attack.

Allen quickly defeated those closest to him, but a lucky shot from another threw him back towards Camilla's house. He crashed into a wall, but his Innocence cloak protected him from harm. "Lavi! It's time to get your ass out here!"

The neko threw himself back into the fight, allowing himself a sigh of relief when a group of level ones suddenly went up in flames.

It was chaos as the two exorcists fought off the akuma horde. They weren't hard, all low level so far, but the sheer number of them was making it difficult.

Camilla watched from inside her house, having no clue what to make of the mechanical monsters that had suddenly appeared. But as she thought back over everything Allen and Lavi had told her, what she was seeing only confirmed their story. As impossible as it was, they had been telling her the truth. Which meant that she had the power to help them.

Fixing her braid and adjusting her hat, Camilla summoned her courage and made her way to the front door. She opened it and was immediately greeted by one of her neighbors. They briefly bantered over what was happening, but when Camilla moved to go towards the fighting, the woman grabbed her arm roughly.

Allen noticed one of the akuma grab Camilla and immediately sprang to her rescue. He didn't quite make it in time. As he drove his sword through the one holding Camilla in place, another shot her.

It met its end quickly, and then Allen knelt beside Camilla, who was whimpering in pain as the akuma virus began to work its way through her body. "Camilla. Can you hear me?"

The Italian woman nodded weakly at the sound of his voice, but that was all she could do, she was in too much pain. To make things worse: she had no clue what was happening.

Allen swiftly surrounded them with his cloak to keep them safe from another attack. "Camilla, akuma bullets are poisonous. But you've got a parasitic Innocence. If you activate it you'll be able to purify the poison and heal yourself."

Her body stilled, and he had no clue if she had even heard him. But before he could panic completely, there was a green glow from Camilla's still bare right foot. The black stars cleared and her skin returned to its original deep tan. Allen helped her to her feet, and watched in awe as her Innocence fully activated.

Thorny vines pushed up from underneath her and wrapped around the young woman's foot, making it look like she was literally rooted to the spot. They continued to spiral up her leg, stopping just short of her overalls. It gave the impression that she had a boot made out of vines, very dangerous vines.

When it was done, Camilla looked to Allen for guidance. "What do I do now?"

Allen shrugged as he morphed his sword back into its clawed arm form. "Listen to your Innocence. It'll tell you what to do."

He launched himself back into the fight, leaving her standing there, completely confused. But when she closed her eyes to make herself calm down, she could suddenly feel her connection to the earth, and knew exactly what to do.

The akuma surrounding an overwhelmed Lavi were suddenly wrapped in plants. Some in ivy, others in the same spiky vines that covered Camilla's foot. He breathed a sigh of relief as the akuma were restrained, not caring where the mysterious plants had come from, but it immediately turned into a girlish shriek when the akuma exploded.

Allen laughed as he landed at Lavi's side. The shriek amused him, but there wasn't time to tease the redhead. "Camilla figured out how to use her Innocence."

The fight ended quickly now that Camilla had joined in. Having just activated her Innocence for the first time, her plants weren't very strong yet, but with only ones and twos around, they were more than enough to help Lavi and Allen finish everything off.

As the smoke cleared, Camilla collapsed to the ground. She panted heavily, surveying the scene around her. The whole street was completely trashed. Fences and border walls were falling apart, houses had huge holes in them, and the road was littered with rubble and plant matter.

Thinking she was hurt, Allen and Lavi ran to her side. Seeing that she was only panicking, they calmed down and sat on either side of her. Allen placed a hand on her shoulder. "Deactivate your Innocence, Camilla. You'll feel better if it's not draining you."

Heeding his advice, she let the power fade. The vines receded and her foot returned to how it used to look. Mostly. The red rash now reached all the way to the middle of her calf, covering the same area her Innocence had.

"What happens now?"

Allen sighed at the fear in her voice. He stood up and offered her his hand. "Now we head back to our headquarters."

"But-"

"Camilla. If you don't leave, more akuma will come looking for you, and next time it will probably be worse. I understand that you're worried about the people here, but this," Allen paused to gesture at the destruction around them, "this isn't going to help anyone."

This time when he offered her his hand she took it. The neko helped her to her feet and guided her back towards what was left of her house.

The young men waited while their new comrade gathered up a few important possessions, and then they headed back to their inn. After retrieving their suitcases and making a quick phone call to Komui, the three made their way to the church where the ark gate was. Camilla was startled by the ark, but after everything else she'd seen that afternoon, it was nothing.

Lenalee met them in the entrance hall and escorted them down to her brother's office. The two young women talked nonstop on the way down, and by the time the short walk was over they were friends.

The usual new exorcist stuff happened: an exam from Komui, a visit to Hevlaska, the welcome party. And by the time it was over Camilla was tired and homesick. She confided this in Allen as he showed her to her new room, and he knew exactly how to cheer her up: he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out to the garden. It wasn't much to see, since it was December and everything was already dead or hibernating, but to Camilla it felt like home.


	19. Chapter 19

Allen was woken early by the noise coming from Komui's office. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, he could hear every word clearly from his bedroom: the generals, Klaud and Teidoll to be specific, were arguing over who would get to train Camilla. It made him a little angry: if this had happened just a few weeks later, she would have unarguably been _his_ apprentice. It didn't help that he was in a bad mood from not being able to meet up with Kanda the night before. So after a quick breakfast, Allen dragged Camilla out to the garden: neither of them needed to be around to overhear that argument.

He climbed a tree, letting his inner cat out, and she wandered among the plants, trying to figure out what they all were when they were blooming. Aside from a brief explanation of what was going on, which included why Allen was upset, neither of them said much of anything. Lenalee joined them when she finished her morning routine, but she didn't stay long as she had a mission to go on. The Chinese woman was a little dejected to have to leave so soon; there was finally another female exorcist her age, and she wanted to stay and get to know her better.

It was a pleasant way to spend the morning, or at least it would have been if they both weren't thinking about what was happening in Komui's office.

When Camilla got bored of looking at the hibernating plants, she went and sat under Allen's tree. The outdoorsy part of her wanted to climb it and join him in the branches, but she settled for staying on the ground. They had figured out that as long as the neko stayed a few feet away she wouldn't start sneezing, so she opted for keeping her distance. She liked Allen; it was really unfair that she was allergic to him. On the other hand, from where she was sitting she could see his tail wave and curl as it hung off the branch, and that was very amusing, especially since the white fur was streaked with pink stains from the spilled party punch. "Hey, Allen? What are the generals like?"

Allen sighed; he knew she was really asking which she should hope to be placed with. "Well, I don't know General Sokalo very well, but he's a strong fighter. I've heard he can be ...harsh towards his apprentices. General Klaud has a rather rough exterior, but from what I've seen with Timothy, she's a good person at heart. General Teidoll is a little crazy, but he's really nice, and he spends a lot of time drawing and painting. He treats his apprentices like they're his kids. Then there's General Cross... I trained under him, and well... let's just say that it's a good thing for you that he's not around."

Camilla nodded as she processed all that, and she wondered what happened to make Allen dislike this Cross; from what she'd seen of him, the neko was a very kindhearted person. "There are five generals, right? So what about the fifth?"

Allen laughed from his perch. "That's Kanda. You've already met him."

"I have?"

"Yeah, at the party last night. He's the guy with the long hair that pushed me into the punch bowl." Allen chose his words carefully, making sure he didn't give away any of his true feelings for the samurai.

Camilla blanched. "Oh. The attractive angry guy. He was not nice."

Allen laughed to hide the uncomfortable feeling that welled up inside him at hearing someone else call his lover 'attractive'. "That was just because of me. We started out on the wrong foot when I first got here, and things just spiraled out of control from there. Believe it or not, but he actually used to be worse."

"I think I'll go with not."

Her tone made Allen laugh a little. "He's mellowed out since he made general, and he's always respectful to women, so he's far from the worst general you could end up with."

She raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. "So who _is_ the worst then?"

"Cross." Allen answered without any hesitation. "Don't get me wrong, he was good for me, and he's good at what he does. He's just definitely wrong for you."

They fell silent for a while as Camilla worked up the nerve to ask the question that was really bothering her. "Hey Allen?"

"Yeah?"

"You're gay, right?"

Allen nearly fell out of the tree at the unexpected topic change. He kept his voice calm as he responded. "What makes you think that?"

Camilla giggled a little; she'd caught enough of a reaction to know that her suspicion was true. "You're too nice to be straight."

That made Allen laugh. "That's interesting logic. It doesn't work like that in real life though."

He had hoped that would throw her off, but it didn't. "Meaning that your boyfriend isn't nice?"

Allen remained silent, so after a moment Camilla caved and explained for real. "I knew a gay couple back home. You remind me a lot of them. It wasn't too hard to figure out why. Anyway, you don't need to worry; I grew up in a very Catholic town. I know better than to say anything. So you can trust me to keep this a secret."

When the neko continued to say nothing, Camilla smiled and started to tease him. Everything Lavi and the others had said about Allen being their innocent little brother was starting to make sense. "Ok, I'll play along. Lenalee's a really pretty girl, and she's got quite a crush on you. Are you going to do something about it?"

Allen snorted, his annoyance over that particular situation helping him find his voice. "She's had that crush on me since I first came here. It comes and goes, and whenever she has it, she gets really annoying. It's such a pain having to constantly explain to her that I'm not interested in her."

"Because you like men."

"Will you drop that already?!"

"Not until you admit to it."

Allen let out a low hiss. _Damn this girl is stubborn, maybe it's a good thing I'm not the one who's going to be stuck with her..._ "Fine. It's true. Now change the subject."

Camilla, on the other hand, was thinking that it was a shame she _wouldn't_ be able to train under Allen. She already held a lot of respect for him and enjoyed being in his company. He was making this transition easy on her. And the fact that he was gay would have made it even better; there wouldn't be as many awkward situations. "Sure. ... Tell me again why you're not a general?"

"Because I'm not eighteen yet."

Camilla frowned. Given what little she knew about Allen and the exorcists, that seemed like a really odd reason. She'd already met several exorcists who were older than Allen, and none of them were worried about being promoted like he was. "So how does one become a general?"

Allen didn't want to talk about this, but he got the feeling that if he didn't Camilla would change the subject back to his sexual orientation. "Last night you were examined by Hevlaska and she told you what your synchro rate with your Innocence is. It was like seventy five percent, right?"

"Eighty one."

"Right. Anyway, when your synchro rate passes one hundred percent, we call that breaking critical. Generals are those of us who have broken critical and fully synchronized with their Innocence."

"So then you...?"

"I broke critical when I was fifteen, just a few months after I came here." Allen sighed briefly before he continued. Camilla would hear the story eventually, so she may as well hear it from him.

The Italian woman played with her long dark braid as she listened to Allen tell a watered down version of everything that had happened to him since he joined the Order. It was a lot for her to take in.

When he was done talking, Allen looked down from his perch and smiled at the look on Camilla's face. "Sorry. That was probably hard for you to handle so soon. But it was the best way to answer your question."

The young woman shook her head, but before she could speak, they were interrupted. "Oi! Baka Moyashi! You out here?"

"My name is Allen, Bakanda! Get it right for once!" Now that they had found a rhythm in their relationship, those words had become their code: if Allen fussed over his nickname then it meant there were other people around.

"Che." Kanda scoffed as he stepped into view. But from the way he was looking around it was obvious he hadn't spotted them yet. "You and the new girl are wanted down in Komui's office."

"'New girl'? I have a name you know." Offended, Camilla stood from her spot and scowled at the samurai.

But Kanda wasn't interested in arguing with a girl. He was much more interested in watching his Moyashi try to get out of the tree he was in. "Che. I know that. But I can't use it if one's told me what it is."

"Oh right." Allen paused halfway down the tree as he realized that the two hadn't been introduced. "Umm, Kanda this is Camilla Messina. Camilla this is General Kanda Yuu."

Neither of them moved to greet the other, instead Kanda scoffed at Allen. "Hurry up and get down, Moyashi. Or is the cat stuck in the tree?"

Allen made a face at Kanda's smug smirk. Then he launched himself out of the branches and onto his lover. The samurai fell to the ground under the unexpected weight of his Moyashi landing on top of him. It was a position they both would have loved to enjoy, but they weren't alone. Allen immediately pushed himself off Kanda and smirked down at the fallen samurai. "Bakanda."

"What the fuck was that for?" Kanda glared at Allen as he got to his feet, but then he recalled that he was on a mission. "Never mind. I've already wasted enough time looking for you. Hurry up and get your ass inside."

Allen pouted as he led the way out of the garden. "What do they even need me for? It's not like I'm relevant to what's going on."

"Che." Kanda shoved him through the door. "How the fuck should I know? I was only told to come find you."

.x.x.

Kanda pulled me to a stop in an empty hallway. I knew he had something to say, so I didn't protest. There was clearly something bothering him, and I was pleased that he was actually coming to me with the problem instead of holding it in. The samurai waited until Camilla had gone ahead before he spoke, his voice low and borderline angry. "You're spending a lot of time with the new girl. Should I be jealous?"

I stuck my tongue out at him, slightly peeved that he was asking such a thing, but it quickly turned into a devious smirk as a thought struck me. "Of course you should."

Kanda narrowed his eyes at me, the cobalt depths sparking dangerously. I could tell that he knew I was up to something, but he couldn't figure out what it was; and that pissed him off almost as much as the thought of me being with somebody else did. "Oh really? And why's that?"

I leaned closer to my lover and whispered seductively in his ear. "She's allergic to cats."

It took a second, but when it clicked Kanda let out a low moan that I felt rather than heard. "You mean she's..."

"Yep. If I get within three feet of her she'll start sneezing." I held in an exasperated sigh, opting to smile at the look on my lover's face. "Nothing could ever happen with her. Not that it would, she's already pegged me as being gay. So you can be as jealous as you want, Yuu... so long as it's you wishing everyone else had to stay away from me and not you getting paranoid every time someone flirts with me. I would never cheat on you, understand?"

He nodded and let go of the tension he was holding on to. I moved away, but he quickly caught up to me and grabbed my wrist to stop me. "Your tail's pink. Is that from the punch?" He didn't wait for me to nod before he continued, his voice unusually soft. "For the record, I'm sorry if I hurt you last night. I didn't-"

I cut him off with a very brief, chaste kiss; we were in too much of a public place for me to kiss him as deeply as I wanted too. Kanda Yuu had just apologized to me. "Don't worry about it."

"Why won't you let me apologize, Moyashi?

"Because it doesn't bother me."

"'Doesn't bother you'? It bothers me a whole lot!"

His frustrated tone made me sigh. "Look. That's definitely not going to be the last time we have to fight in public. And it won't be the only fight we can't have sex after either. That's not something we should be doing anyway, it'll ruin our relationship in the long run. So I can't let the things you say when we fake fight get to me. Understand?"

"Not really."

I sighed again. "Ok, think of it this way: I obviously love your hair. So if we were fighting and I threatened to cut it short, you would never think I meant it, get upset, and go chop it all off, right?"

Kanda nodded warily. "What's your point?"

I quickly kissed him again. "I can't let insults I know you don't mean bother me. They may sting, but not nearly as much as they did back when I thought you hated me. So long as I know you love me, I can tolerate anything you throw my way."

I knew he understood when he scoffed and tousled my hair. "Che. Baka Moyashi." Then he was shoving me forward. "Enough with the sentimentality. We're late."

We caught up with Camilla before she reached Komui's office. She gave me a look that seemed to ask if Kanda was my boyfriend, but it passed quickly as she decided that idea was stupid.

The supervisor was sitting at his desk, awake and waiting for us. He smiled as we entered and gestured for us to sit down. Camilla and I complied, but Kanda chose to lean against the wall. "Well, I may as well get straight to the point. I have decided which of the generals is going to be responsible for training Camilla."

He gave me a pointed look as I squeaked. "I know you don't like this, Allen-kun, and I'm sorry. But I'd rather you hear this from me, and not through the grapevine."

I nodded uncomfortably, understanding that Komui was doing it this way to spare my feelings. That didn't make it hurt any less though.

The supervisor turned his attention on Camilla. "At twenty two you don't necessarily need the traditional apprenticeship that new exorcists go through, but you do need someone to train you to fight and help you harness your skills. Therefore, I've decided to pair you with someone on a temporary basis. It will only last for a couple months, rather than years like a normal apprenticeship would. That being said, this is the perfect opportunity to give our newest general some experience, as he hasn't had an apprentice yet."

 _A general who hasn't had an apprentice? Who- oh. Kanda._ The silence that followed the supervisor's words was broken by a very angry growl. "Fuck no! I don't want an apprentice!"

"You don't have a choice, _General_ Kanda." The way Komui emphasized the title made me snicker internally; it sounded so wrong, none of us exorcists ever used it. "The paperwork has already been filed, and Teidoll has already been informed. He's looking forward to assisting you with this."

From the look on Kanda's face it was obvious that he wanted to strangle the supervisor. I laughed out loud. Between my jealousy and sympathy for my lover, I didn't feel much like laughing, but I knew it was what was expected of me in this situation. The Allen who wasn't dating Kanda would be laughing his head off at the samurai being forced to do something. "Are you going to make her call you 'Master', Bakanda?"

I was suddenly staring at Mugen's tip, and its owner growled at me. "Shut up, Moyashi."

Komui cleared his throat before I could retort. "There's no need for that, you two. Now, Kanda, put away the sword. Allen, you can either be quiet or leave, your choice."

He waited for us to do as we were told and then he started speaking again. "There is a reason why I'm doing it this way, Kanda. Camilla's parasitic Innocence gives her control over plants. I'm assigning her to you because of your knowledge in that area. You are the only general with experience gardening."

I was stunned; Kanda's a gardener? I turned to question him, but to my surprise, he had relaxed completely; his murderous aura was gone. Not only was the gardening thing true, but it seemed like he actually _wanted_ to train Camilla now.

On the other hand, _she_ looked pissed. Camilla had been quietly taking in everything so far, obviously nervous over a new situation, but this set her off. It wasn't too surprising that she didn't like Kanda; he had made a bad first impression. "This guy? Really? There's no way this pretty boy would dirty his hands working out in a garden."

Kanda growled, but Komui spoke before the samurai could swear. "Kanda's been the caretaker of the Order's garden for years."

That only upset Camilla further. "Then he must not be any good. That garden is a disaster."

The melancholy sigh Kanda gave surprised me almost as much as the fact that he agreed with Camilla. "Yeah it's kind of pathetic. I haven't had much time to take care of it since my promotion."

"Wait, wait, wait." I was more than a little shocked by everything that had just been revealed. "That really was _you_ , Bakanda? _You're_ the one who did all that?"

Kanda snorted. "Teidoll forced it on me. He said I needed a hobby, and training didn't count."

"Why _gardening_? Wouldn't it have been easier to let him teach you to draw?"

He snorted again. "That would have required spending time with him."

I wanted more of an explanation, but that was going to have to wait, Komui was clearing his throat again. "Allen-kun. It's time for you to leave now; the rest of this conversation needs to happen in private."

With a heavy sigh, I pushed myself out of the chair and left the room, slamming the door behind me. I'm sure Komui took it as frustration over not being a general, but this was something else. Kanda having an apprentice was going to take time out of our already limited private time. I was going to be seeing less of him than I already did.

.x.x.

Allen actually ended up seeing _more_ of his lover. With an apprentice to train, Kanda's already short daily missions became even shorter. Instead of leaving as soon as he had meditated, he waited for Camilla to finish breakfast, which took quite a bit of time as she was still adjusting to the insane appetite that came with being a parasite-type. And instead of coming back for a late dinner, they were back for a late lunch, spending the afternoons sparring out in the woods.

Despite their rough start, Camilla was growing to respect Kanda. She may have been older and more knowledgeable about plants than he was, but he knew how to help her harness her new powers. She had seen the samurai's temper, but like Allen had told her that first day, Kanda had more patience towards women than men. That didn't mean he went easy on her, but he was fair, and committed to making sure she learned.

Kanda did not like having an apprentice. He hated having someone follow him around, and disliked having to constantly stop and explain things. Above all, he disliked the fact that Camilla was a woman; he couldn't hit her when she said naïve things. At least they had something in common. The arrangement would have been unbearable if they didn't share an interest in plants.

But seeing more of Allen was definitely what made the whole thing worth it. A stressful day always came to the perfect end when he was able to fall asleep with his Moyashi in his arms.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N: To clarify: Cross is only missing in that no one knows where he is. He's out tracking down the witch that cursed Allen, and they all know that. He's just doing it as he usually would: without reporting his progress or current location to headquarters.

Next Chapter will be Allen's Birthday!


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Time for Christmas and Allen's Birthday!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

It was just another December day. The windows in Kanda's room were frosted over, making it hard to gauge what time it was. Though given how cold his side of the bed was, it was late enough that he was already gone for the day. I pulled my clothes on and snuck quickly to my own room. There was no panic; one of the advantages of wearing the same style of clothing all the time was that if I got caught heading back to my room after a night at Kanda's, no one would be able to tell. It also helped that when I became a neko I had developed a tendency to fall asleep in strange places. I changed into fresh clothes and then made my way down to the cafeteria. It was just another day.

Except that it wasn't. The red and green decorations that had appeared in the dining hall overnight sent me into a panic. _Fuck. How did this sneak up on me?!_ I thought about sneaking away, but after how hard we'd gone at it last night, I wasn't even going to make it to lunch without eating let alone through the whole day. I was just going to have to suck it up.

"Happy birthday, Allen!"

I jumped at the words. Forcing a smile onto my face, I turned to face my best friend. "Thank you, Lenalee."

Her smile fell instantly. She blinked at me a few times before she spoke. "How-? No, _why_? Why is that a lie? I mean, I know you don't like celebrating it, but I always thought that was because you didn't like the attention. If you can't even say thank you without lying, then something must be wrong with you. So what's really going on?"

I sighed and let my smile fall, realizing that my ears had given me away. There wasn't any harm in telling her the truth, was there? I'd kept it to myself all these years after all; maybe it was time to finally tell someone. I sighed again as I felt my stomach start to rumble. "It's a long story. Can we get food first?"

"Are you actually going to answer my questions, or is this one of your evasion techniques?"

The tone of her voice hurt me, but I knew I deserved the accusation. "That depends entirely on what your questions are."

Following my promise to talk to her, she practically dragged me over to Jerry's window, the excitement glittering in her eyes.

Over breakfast that morning, I told Lenalee everything. How I'd been adopted, how Mana had died, all of it. I know I had shared pieces of the story with people before, but that was the first time I had ever told it in its entirety, from start to finish without interruption. Well, Neah knew, but that's because he was nosy and read my memories, not because I had actually told him.

It was hard, but it actually felt really good. And Lenalee was my best friend. She may have a tendency to go a little overboard sometimes, but that morning she just sat there and listened. I had to put up with her nearly hugging me to death afterward, but that wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

After breakfast I headed straight down to Komui's office, ignoring all distractions. I was on a mission. This was the reason I had been looking forward to today, despite all of the bittersweet memories it held. I was now eighteen.

I knocked on the supervisor's door, trying to keep my excitement in check. But I had been waiting for this day for two years, so it seemed impossible to keep myself from bouncing up and down. I was finally, _finally_ , going to get promoted to General.

Komui called for me to come in, and my smile fell the second I saw his expression. I knew what that look meant: Central had rejected my promotion. "I'm sorry, Allen-kun."

I stared blankly at him for a moment, trying to stay calm as my hopes came crashing down around me. There was no point in getting mad at Komui, I knew from previous conversations that he was on my side in all of this. "Did they have a reason or was it just that they still don't trust me?"

The Chinese man sighed. "They said that since Cross is still alive, there are already five Generals and they can't appoint a sixth."

I opened my mouth to argue, but Komui stopped me before I got a single word out. "I know. It's a bogus reason. Cross is nowhere to be found and Judgement is still with Hevlaska."

"So they still don't trust me." I sighed and collapsed onto one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Actually, no. That never came up." Komui's expression looked torn, like he didn't want to say what he was about to say. "They have a problem with you being a neko."

"Meaning?" I blinked at Komui. How was me being a neko relevant in any way to my promotion?

The supervisor sighed again. "Basically they think that promoting you while you're half cat is going to cause too many problems in the outside world."

I frowned, that seemed really wrong. "So they're not ok with promoting me because I'm a neko, yet they were fine with promoting Kanda and he's not even...? That's not fair."

Komui sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Unfortunately that's how it works. I'm sorry Allen-kun."

"So that's it then? I'm never going to be a General?" I felt like crying at the hopelessness of the situation.

Komui nodded and I shoved myself out of my chair and toward the door. The tears had started to fall and I didn't want the supervisor to see me cry.

I barely made it two steps before Komui called after me. "Before you storm off, what would you say to a compromise?"

I turned back to him warily. "What do you mean by 'compromise'?"

Komui gestured for me to sit back down, and waited until I did before he explained. "I know how badly you wanted this Allen-kun. And we all wanted it for you. I may not be able to make you a General, but I can offer you a different kind of promotion."

"I'm listening."

"What if we made you a Lieutenant General?" Komui offered me the file he'd been fiddling with. "You'd be somewhere between an exorcist and a General."

I hesitated as I reached for the file. Something about what Komui had just said was really bothering me. "No, you mean I'd still be an exorcist, I'd just also have a fancy title."

Komui laughed lightly. "So you saw through that... Well, you're right. The position would be all the same work you're doing now, and your orders would still come from me. The title would simply be a way of recognizing that you're a critical."

"Why would I want that? What's the point of making up a title if it doesn't mean anything?" This discussion was not helping me deal with the disappointment I was feeling.

"Because it does have some perks." Komui offered me the file again, but I still refused to take it. I wanted an explanation before I let him get my hopes up. But the supervisor seemed to know that, he smiled softly at me. "You would be allowed to assist the Fourteenth Noah without an escort."

I scowled to hide how excited that made me. "Does that also mean that I'd be able to go with Neah without having to get permission first? Or just that I wouldn't have to take anyone else with me?"

Komui frowned in thought and pulled the file back towards him. He flipped through it until he found whatever it was that he was looking for, which didn't take long as the file was only a couple pages thick. He shook his head when he was finished reading. "Just that you'd be allowed to go alone. However, since I'm the one you would be getting permission from, I can at least tell you that getting it isn't going to be a problem."

He offered me the file yet again. "You really should read it, Allen-kun. You'll like what you see."

When I still refused to take it, Komui made his whiney face at me, the one he always made when people were trying to make him do his work. "Please, Allen? I've been working on it for months..."

I caved to his pleading and reached for the file, but once again I stopped myself from taking it at the last second, only this time I was livid. "Wait a minute. If you've been working on this for months then that means you knew all along that they were going to do this to me."

Komui sighed and adjusted his glasses. "No, not all along. Just since you became a neko. And I wasn't sure of anything; I merely suspected that they might use the neko thing as grounds to reject your promotion. So I created this new position as a way to ... keep you from feeling too disappointed."

I stood there staring at him, not knowing what to say or how I felt about the whole thing. Finally, I sighed and frowned at him. "I can't deal with this right now."

"I understand." He smiled gently and offered me the file again. "Just take the file and read through it. You don't have to decide anything today."

I had no intention of reading the file; I only took it to make Komui stop trying to force it on me. Excusing myself, I returned to my bedroom. The file was tossed on my dresser and immediately forgotten. I collapsed on my bed, finally allowing myself to cry.

It wasn't fair. I'd been waiting to become a General for so long, and to have it rejected because I was a neko was so infuriating. If they had denied it over my split loyalties, that still would have hurt, but it would have at least been understandable. But this? This wasn't anything I did. It was something that had happened that was completely out of my control. I never asked to be a neko; my Innocence did that to me all on its own. And that's what made this whole thing even worse. I had come to consider my cat parts as part of my Innocence, so to have my promotion rejected because of them made it feel like Central was rejecting my Innocence.

.x.x.

The two people that bumped into each other outside of the entrance hall weren't people who had had much interaction with each other. But they were both doing the same thing: looking for Allen. Though there wasn't much 'looking' involved as they were both certain they would find the neko crying in his room.

Lenalee smiled hesitantly at the Fourteenth as they walked alongside each other. She wanted to be nice to him because he meant so much to Allen, but it was hard because she still held on to those feelings of dislike from back when the Noah possessed her best friend. She was startled when he suddenly addressed her. "You're still Allen's best friend, right?"

"Yeah." She was going to make a snarky comment, but the concerned look on his face stopped her.

Allen would probably hate him for this, but Neah knew that someone needed to know what had happened to him when he was a child. "I feel like you should know why Allen hates his birthday. You see, it's not really his birthday, it's the day my brother adopted him."

Neah paused to come up with his next words, but Lenalee took advantage of his silence. "You can stop there. Allen told me all of this at breakfast this morning."

Neah blinked at her. "Really? All of it?"

"Yeah, he talked for over an hour." She smiled. "It was an awful story, but telling it did him a lot of good. He actually seemed happy when he left."

Her words made Neah stop short. "Wait. If he told you everything and he's finally moved on, what does he have to be depressed about?"

Lenalee sighed and turned to look back at the Noah. She was still angry over the news her brother had given her when she'd delivered his coffee. "Central rejected Allen's promotion to General."

Neah stood frozen for a moment, but as soon as he processed what the Chinese woman had said, he took off running.

Lenalee caught up with the Fourteenth as he reached Allen's room. They spent a few minutes trying to convince the neko to open the door before they realized that it wasn't locked.

When they came in, Allen was sitting on his bed with his back against the wall, staring out the window and absently playing with his tail. He wasn't crying, but it was obvious that he had been. Upon hearing the door open, he turned to glare at them. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But-"

Lenalee's retort was cut off by a wave of Neah's hand. "Then we won't say anything. But I brought something that will cheer you up..."

.x.x.

I stared suspiciously at the box Neah was offering to me. It looked normal enough: a plain white box, just big enough to hold an orange, tied shut with a bright red ribbon. I took it cautiously, the grin on my uncle's face only making me more suspicious of him.

All my worries were confirmed when the box started shaking the second it was in my hands. I nearly dropped it in shock. Neah laughed at my reaction. "Hurry up, Allen. Open it!"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure it's safe?"

 _ **Just open it already!**_

Tentatively I gripped the edge of the ribbon and pulled the bow untied. The shaking stopped the moment the ribbon was off the box. The lid popped off as whatever was inside freed itself. There was a flash of gold and a familiar feeling of something nestling into my hair. _No way_...

I reached up to grab it, but it flew off as soon as my fingers got close. But if I was right... Moving my arm in just the right way, I caught the thing flying around my head. The feeling of it in my hand was so familiar. I moved the thing to where I could see it, and nearly died of happiness. "Timcanpy!"

The golden golem in my hand grinned. I let go of him and he returned to nestling in my hair. There were tears of joy streaming down my face as I turned back to Neah. "What-? How-?"

He laughed at me, but I could tell he was just as happy as I was. "I rebuilt him from the pieces that were left when he died. He's mostly the same; his personality is intact and so are his memories of you. The recordings he had are gone though, as are some other technical things you don't care about. Anyway, it took longer than I expected, but I got it done in time. Happy birthday, Allen."

I threw myself into his arms and sobbed into his chest. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." Neah laughed as he hugged me. _**Make sure you thank your samurai too. If he hadn't collected the pieces then none of this would have been possible. He loves you a lot, you know.**_

 _ **I know.**_ I couldn't help smirking through my tears at him. _**No thanks to you.**_

Neah returned my smirk. _**How**_ **did** _ **you figure that out anyway? You were so completely clueless about it, there's no way you discovered it on your own.**_

I frowned. _**Master**_ _**Cross knew and he convinced Kanda to confess.**_

 _ **So it was**_ **Marian** _ **who ruined my fun. I'm going to have to have words with him.**_

Neah's words made me laugh. It was so weird to hear Master Cross referred to like that. My laughter died when I felt something tugging on my ear. Reaching up, I yanked Tim off my head. "Hey, be careful. That hurts."

He gave me a confused look, clearly asking about the cat ears. It was so nostalgic; it felt so good to see him again. "Yes, I have cat ears now. Get used to it."

Lenalee laughed at our interaction, causing Tim to fly over to her and say hello. "Will he still regenerate like he used to?"

"Of course."

I blinked at her. "Why'd you ask about that, Lenalee?"

She snorted as she smirked at me. "How many of the Order's golems have you destroyed in the past month?"

"Just the three your brother tried to give me." I stuck my tongue out at her.

Neah caught Timcanpy as he flew back towards me. "Wait. Why are you destroying golems?"

"It's a cat thing." I sighed in annoyance, but that turned to happiness when Tim came back to me.

Lenalee laughed as Tim and I got reacquainted, but I didn't realize that we had lost Neah's attention until he let out a slow whistle. "Wow. This is pretty great. Is this what Central is offering you to keep you from making a fuss over the General thing?"

"Huh? What are you-?" The words died in my throat when I looked up and saw him holding the folder Komui had given me. "Put that back! I don't want to even think about that right now!"

Neah ignored me. Instead of putting the file down, he gave it to Lenalee. She avoided my attempt to take it from her, so I resigned myself to collapsing on the bed with a groan. I felt Neah frowning at me. "You haven't read it yet, have you?"

I snorted. "Of course not. I don't want to know what it says. I'm not interested in a fake promotion."

As soon as I said the words, Lenalee smacked me upside the head with the file. "Hey!"

"Stop being a stubborn idiot and read it." She whacked my head again before she dropped the file in my lap. "My brother obviously put a lot of thought into this. You should read it before you say stupid things about it."

I glared at her, but she won that contest when she threatened to slap me for real. I dropped my gaze to the file and flicked it open with a resigned sigh.

It was most of the same things that Komui had already told me: I'd still be an exorcist, but I would no longer need an escort to go with Neah. There was even a page that explained how if I was involved in the recruiting of a new exorcist then I would be considered when deciding who their mentor would be. But it was a later page that made my breath hitch and my heart stop: there was a lengthy list of conditions under which I could use the ark without getting permission first. A lot of them were emergency situations, like with what happened when we found Timothy, but there were some that could really come in handy; especially the one where having a General's permission was the same as having official permission.

In my excitement I forgot that the others were there. The moment I was done reading the file, I bolted from my room and sprinted to Komui's office.

The Chinese man smiled brightly as he opened the door for me. "So you finally read the file. I told you you'd like it."

I stood in the doorway gasping for breath and staring wide-eyed at the supervisor. "How? How did you get Central to agree to this?"

"I've been trying to get them to lighten their restrictions on you ever since they imposed them." His smile morphed briefly into a smirk. "So I took advantage of the situation with your rejected promotion to get them to finally cave."

My excitement wore off as he spoke. The reminder that those things that had felt like perks a few minutes earlier were originally restrictions placed on me had me depressed again. This fake promotion wasn't putting me somewhere between an exorcist and a General; it was putting me back on the same level as the rest of the exorcists.

"So, what do you say? Do you want the promotion?"

I sighed heavily and that made Komui's smile fall. "I don't know. Yes, I want these things, but at the same time... I broke critical two _years_ ago. I'm supposed to be a General. I shouldn't have to settle for this."

"I know." Komui pulled me into a hug and started rubbing my left ear. I was going to kill whichever of my friends had told everyone that rubbing my ears would calm me down when I was upset; I did not want to be calmed down right then. "It's not fair. And I'm not going to stop trying to convince Central to promote you. But in the meantime... Won't you please accept this?"

"Do I at least get to wear the gold jacket?"

Komui laughed as he let go of me. "Absolutely."

"Then I accept." When he offered me his hand, I shook it. "But you better have meant what you said just now about talking to Central. I can't go on like this forever."

"Of course. Now, go enjoy Christmas with your friends." Komui shoved me out into the hall and closed the door behind me.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: A second chapter without Kanda in it, but he at least got mentioned in this one. ;)


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Here's the rest of Allen's birthday. You didn't think I'd actually leave Kanda out of the celebrations, did you?

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I made it ten feet down the hall before I was attacked by Timcanpy. He landed on my head and began nuzzling my ear. It was very weird having my golem pet me. But at the same time it was like I'd never lost him, and that felt amazing.

"Well?" I jumped at the sound of Lenalee's voice. She was standing with Neah a little further down the hall. They shared the same expectant look. "Did you do the right thing or were you a stubborn idiot?"

Her word choice made me frown. "I accepted the promotion."

"Congratulations!" She squealed as she hugged me, but she calmed down before I could get mad at her. "Sorry. I know it's not what you wanted, and you deserve so much more. But this is a good thing, right?"

"I guess." Despite my earlier excitement, I couldn't bring myself to be happy about it; I was too distraught over not making General.

"Allen-"

Lenalee's lecture cut off before it started when Neah placed a hand on her shoulder. "Could you give us a minute?"

She looked uncomfortable for a moment, and I could tell she was wondering if it was ok to leave the two of us unaccompanied. "Sure. I have to go see my brother anyway."

As she walked away, Neah grabbed my wrist and started pulling me down the hall. He didn't speak until we were back in my room, sitting side by side on my bed. "There are some things I need to say to you that are going to be awkward. Ideally I'd have taken you out to celebrate your eighteenth birthday and gotten us both plastered before I said them, but that idiot Marian had to go and traumatize you, and getting you drunk is unfortunately out of the question. So I'm going to have to do this sober."

 _ **What are you going on about?**_

He cut off my attempt to talk telepathically. "No, we're going to do this out loud so that Tim can record it. I don't want you forgetting any of this, ok?"

I nodded, catching that I was supposed to listen and not talk. Neah sighed and began stroking my ear. He waited for me to start purring before he spoke. "We haven't really talked about him before, and there are some things I want to tell you about my brother."

My eyes went wide, but I managed to keep myself from interrupting, even though I desperately wanted to. "I may only know about your relationship with Mana through your memories, but there's no one who knew my brother better than me. So you can believe me when I say that Mana loved you a lot. Marian wasn't wrong when he told you that Mana went a little crazy after I died, but he was wrong to let you think that it was so bad that he mixed the two of us up.

"It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I'd like to think that you made Mana better. He was certainly happier with you than he had been in a long time. And I know that he would be proud of you. That obnoxious little kid he picked up eleven years ago grew into a wonderful adult."

Sensing that I wanted to argue with that last statement, Neah's hand moved from my ear to my cheek, where he stroked the line of my scar with his thumb. "Yes, he was disappointed in you when you did that, but I know you know that he cursed you out of love. So it's time for you to forgive yourself for that, ok?"

He laughed lightly, not giving me a chance to respond. "Now, where was I...? Mana knew when he took you in that the cross in your hand was an Innocence fragment. I don't agree with his choice to not tell you what it was, but I can understand why he didn't. We had a few encounters with exorcists when we were on the run from the Earl, and they definitely weren't pleasant encounters. He didn't tell you as a way of protecting you from all that. Though maybe he was just waiting until you were older, and never got the chance. Either way, he'd be proud of what you've done with it."

Neah paused for breath, and I knew he was getting to the reason why he had chosen now to tell me all of this. "You've done some really amazing things in the two and a half years you've been with the Order. You don't need a promotion from people who don't even like you to validate that. It's ok to be disappointed, but don't dwell on it. You really should be happy for this. Got it?"

I frowned at him, but the tone of his voice told me not to argue with him, so I kept my complaints to myself. Of course that doesn't work when the person you're talking to literally can read your mind. Neah laughed at my reaction and pulled me into an embarrassingly tight hug. "Alright then, let's try this a different way. The people here care about you. Your best friend was more pissed than you were that you didn't make general. Her brother put himself on the line to get Central to lighten up on you, and I'd be willing to bet that Link had a hand in that too. And I'm sure that when your boyfriend finds out about the whole thing, you're going to have to keep him from doing something stupid. They all want to see you happy. So if you can't be happy for yourself, can you at least be happy for their sakes?"

.x.x.

I knew it was Christmas Day, it was hard to miss that given how decorated the halls were, but the fact that it was a holiday didn't stop me from dragging Camilla out for her daily training.

Something was nagging at me though. I felt like I was forgetting something important, and that feeling distracted me all day. It wasn't until we returned to headquarters for the evening that I remembered:

Today was the Moyashi's birthday.

 _How did I forget that?_

 _... Wait. Is that ... guilt? Do I actually feel bad for forgetting? Fuck. This is all that damn Moyashi's fault. I never had this problem before he came around._

 _..._

 _At least he won't care that I forgot. He doesn't like his birthday any more than I like mine._

 _..._

 _That's not going to stop him from giving me crap though. Hopefully he'll be so excited over his promotion that he'll let me off easy._

That thought was shot to hell when I found him in the cafeteria. The Moyashi was sitting with a group of fellow exorcists, laughing and smiling that fake smile that none of them saw through. Something was wrong.

But he was wearing a gold General's coat. And from the way Johnny was hanging around him, he'd only had it for a few minutes. If he had just received his new jacket, he should have been bouncing off the walls. So why was he upset?

That question was answered when I got close enough to hear what they were saying: Lenalee had just finished proposing a toast to the new Lieutenant General. I may not have been the smartest person around, but I could put two and two together. Central had rejected the Moyashi's promotion.

I was beyond livid. I wanted to go give Central a piece of my mind. However, before I could storm away, Lenalee was wishing me a Merry Christmas and pushing me into a vacant seat at the table. Instead of acting on my rage, I was forced to push it aside and interact with my friends. To make it all worse, the Moyashi gave me a look, and the expression on his face said that he didn't want me to make a scene. My hands were tied.

But that was all forgotten once Allen and I were alone in his room that night.

I locked the door behind me, and was immediately attacked by a flying gold blur. Ugh. Timcanpy. Neah must have actually succeeded at putting the obnoxious thing back together.

I plucked it out of my hair and glared at it, which made Allen laugh and take it from me. "Tim, leave Kanda alone. He's not going to do anything to me." He smirked briefly in my direction. "Well, actually I'm hoping he'll do quite a lot to me..."

The golem's expression changed into something that made the neko smile shyly at it. "You remember all that stuff I used to wish for, Tim? It's all true now. Kanda's my boyfriend."

That excited Timcanpy, and while it was distracted, Allen walked over to his dresser and closed the golem into one of the drawers. "Sorry about this, Tim, but I don't want you to record any of what's about to happen. So just stay in there and be quiet, ok?"

I wanted to tease Allen about what I just saw, but before I could say a single word, Allen's arms were around my neck and he was pressing his lips into mine. "Thank you, Yuu. It means a lot to me that you did that."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"

He kissed me again before he answered. "Neah told me that he was able to fix Tim because you picked up the pieces. So, thank you."

"Che. That wasn't my intention behind picking them up, but if it makes you happy, then I'm glad it worked out that way."

My comment was rewarded with a fist to the shoulder. Allen tossed his hands in the air and gave an exasperated sigh. "You're supposed to say 'you're welcome'."

I just scoffed at him, and that made him roll his eyes at me. "Fine. Have it your way. But it's my birthday, before I drop it, you have to tell me I look good in my new coat."

He backed away from me and did a little spin, modeling the coat for me. I caught his wrist and pulled him into me. Pressing his back into my chest, I began undoing the buttons on his coat. "I'd rather see you not wearing it..."

.x.x.

My first official mission as a Lieutenant General came a few days after my birthday. I was to investigate a suspected Innocence fragment in Greece. With Kanda and Camilla. It was her first real mission as an exorcist.

The difficulties started sooner than expected, when it turned out that our assigned inn had a limited number of available rooms, and Kanda and I were going to have to share. We were both happy about that, but we had to pretend we weren't. That led to Camilla offering to share with me so that Kanda could have his own room. It was a sweet gesture, but it frustrated me because I couldn't say no without her figuring out my feelings for the samurai. It was a tense moment. Fortunately, the finders accompanying us wouldn't hear of a co-ed arrangement and she was overruled.

Then came breakfast the next morning.

I was sitting at a table and eating my usual sized pile of food, when Camilla sat down across from me. She gave me a weird look before she leaned back in her chair. "You look like you slept well, Allen. You're lucky. I had a terrible time falling asleep. The walls in this place aren't very soundproof, and the couple in the room next to mine were quite loud in their lovemaking."

I nodded along sympathetically, not really processing what she was saying. Though if I _had_ been paying attention, I would have recalled that the only room next to hers was mine and Kanda's, and I would have been prepared for what she said next.

"Either that or they were torturing a cat. It was kind of hard to tell through the walls..."

The smirk on her face was what finally made everything click into place. I choked on air and it took a while to regain my composure. "Fuck."

Camilla snickered. "So tall, dark, and angry is your type. I'm surprised. I heard he almost killed you a few months ago."

I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, but no words ever came out. It didn't matter that I couldn't come up with anything to say though, because Camilla just kept talking. "I think I'm more surprised at him though. I never would have pegged him as gay. Which leads me to an awkward question... Are you two together, or was last night some sort of stress release thing?"

Kanda chose that moment to come into the room. "You done stuffing your face yet, Moyashi?"

It took him repeating my nickname to snap me out of my stunned silence. "Moyashi?"

"Huh? Oh. Umm. Not yet." I forced a smile at him. "Camilla was just telling me about how thin the walls are here."

Watching the understanding dawn on him would have been priceless if I wasn't so panicked. Camilla was definitely enjoying herself though. "Yeah, the man in the room next to mine was torturing a cat last night. It made it hard to sleep."

Kanda did not react how I thought he would. "Maybe the cat deserved it. He was probably being obnoxious."

"I'm sure he was." Camilla smirked devilishly at me as she bantered with Kanda. "He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. I don't think I've ever heard a cat make sounds like that before."

"Hey!"

My protest shut Kanda up before he said anything, but Camilla just cocked an eyebrow at me. "Answer my question and I'll stop."

I placed my forehead on the table in annoyance. Kanda spoke over my groan. "What question?"

I lifted my head off the table just long enough to raise my eyebrow at him. Given the context of the conversation that look was all he needed to put it together. But because my head was down, I didn't see his expression when he addressed Camilla. His tone was fierce; it was the one he used when he was bossing his apprentice around. "We've been together for three months. Now drop it."

She didn't drop it, at least not when it was just the two of us. She kept her silence around Kanda, but teased me whenever she got the chance. Those next two days were awful.

And just when the novelty of it was wearing off and she began to let up on me, that's when the next thing went wrong. And this time it would be Kanda who would tease me mercilessly afterwards.

As we left the inn that morning, a stray dog started barking at us. Though it was rather obvious that it was me, the neko, that was freaking him out. He was a small, scrawny mutt, clearly no threat, so we ignored him. Then he started following us, yipping and growling the entire time. It was incredibly annoying, and I could have sworn that I actually understood what it was saying, but I managed to keep calm. Mostly. I only hissed at him once. Though he stopped following us after that, so it's hard to say what I would have done next.

"Was that really necessary, Moyashi?"

I frowned at the amusement on Kanda's face. "Absolutely. He called me a stupid furball."

While I continued to walk, Kanda and Camilla stopped and shared a concerned look, though I didn't see it. "Allen..."

The way Kanda said my real name froze me in my tracks. I slowly turned around to face him. "What?"

"Are you saying that you ... understood the dog?" The look on his face put me even more on edge.

I glowered at the ground. "Yeah. What of it?"

"You do realize that's impossible, right Moyashi?"

"I guess... But I am half cat. Maybe it's not that weird that I can understand animals now."

He snorted at my excuse. "Are you sure you're not just going crazy?"

Rather than dignify that with a response, I turned around and resumed walking towards our destination. Kanda dropped the "going crazy" part, but he called me "Baka Kedama" for the rest of the day. I didn't have to ask to know that it was Japanese for "stupid furball". By the time we started heading back to the inn, I was tired and irritated.

That dog was waiting for us right where we last saw him. He immediately started growling and swearing at me. I did my best to ignore him, but after spending all day with Kanda pushing my buttons, it was incredibly difficult.

He eventually grew tired of the barking, but continued to follow us. I relaxed in the quiet, relieved to no longer have a dog picking on me just because I was half cat.

I should have been wary of the silence.

A searing pain shot through my body as the dog bit down on my tail. I screeched and whipped around, dislodging the mutt with one quick swipe of my clawed right hand.

The dog lay limply a few feet away. Camilla ran over to him and began checking his injuries. She chastised me for being rough on the poor thing, but I wasn't listening to her.

The pain from my bitten tail was excruciating. I could feeling the blood dripping from the holes left by the dog's fangs. Biting my lip to keep myself from crying, I collapsed to my knees. I heard Kanda call out to me, but I was in too much pain to register what he was saying.

Fighting down my panic, I pulled the bandana from my head and wrapped it around my tail in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Kanda's hands replaced my own, and I let him take over treating my injury. He ripped the bandana into strips and used them to bandage the wound. Camilla came back while he worked, forgetting about the dog when she noticed that I was injured.

As soon as my tail was bandaged, I found myself lifted into the air as Kanda began to carry me. He even made sure that my jacket hood hid my exposed cat ears. It was a sweet gesture, but I didn't want it. "Put me down, Bakanda!"

I thrashed in his grip, but what I intended to be a tough act, ended in a whimper as pain shot through my tail. Kanda laughed at me. "No chance, Moyashi. I'm not putting you down until we can get you some proper medical attention."

"But the dog! I have to see if he's ok!"

Kanda stopped walking and stared down at me. I couldn't tell if he was more confused or worried. "It bit you, Moyashi. And from what you've said, it was picking on you. It deserved what you did to it. There's no need for you to worry about what happens to the mutt."

"But-!"

Camilla laughed as I tried to escape again. "The dog is fine, Allen. I checked it myself; your scratches weren't very deep. See?"

I looked to where she was pointing and saw the dog limping away.

Kanda made it three feet before he was stopped by a lady from the crowd that had gathered. She placed a hand on my shoulder, but spoke to Kanda. "Did the dog bite him?"

At Kanda's short nod, she continued talking. "I'm an herbalist. That's my shop right over there. I've got a salve that will help with the pain and prevent an infection, if you want it."

I tried to protest, not wanting this stranger to see my tail, but Kanda accepted her help, and I soon found myself face down on a couch while the woman examined the dog bite.

She didn't react how I expected her to. Instead, she acted as if it were perfectly normal for me to have a tail. She cleaned the wound, and then she applied her salve and rebandaged it, never once commenting on my cat features.

When she was done, I thanked her for her help and asked how much I owed her. She just laughed and insisted it wasn't a big deal. "It was the least I could do for a fellow Romani."

That explained why she didn't react to my tail, she thought I was a gypsy. I thanked her again and left quickly; I didn't want to have to explain to her that she was wrong.

.x.x.

Three days after the dog incident, the pain in my tail had finally vanished. And that was when things started happening again.

As the three of us walked down the stairs to head out for what was hopefully the last day of our mission, we were stopped by the lady at the front desk. "Excuse me? Mr. Walker? There's a phone call for you."

It was strange. Who would be calling me? I took the phone from her, and turned away so that I could uncover my ear and hear properly. "Hello?"

"Good morning, idiot apprentice." I nearly dropped the phone at the sound of that voice.

"G-good morning, M-master Cross."

He laughed at the fear in my voice. "You need to get your ass back to headquarters. I've caught your witch."


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: At last, it's time to meet the witch...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

It was a strange group of people that were gathering in the entrance hall. Komui stood in the doorway, watching as General Cross stepped into headquarters for the first time since he'd faked his death. Accompanying the redhead was a brunette woman. Between the blue streaks in her hair and the colorfulness of her dress, she looked very out of place in the church-like environment.

"Hello, Komui."

"It's good to see you again, General Cross." Komui politely bowed to the redhead, but the sarcasm in the action was strong.

The Chinese man turned to the brunette, who was looking very uncomfortable. But if everything Cross had told him over the phone was true then she had no reason to be, so Komui set about welcoming her warmly. "You must be Natasha. I'm Komui Lee; I'm the supervisor here at the Black Order."

She nodded awkwardly at him; she had come to fix things, but that didn't mean that she wasn't scared of what these people would do to her. "Where is-?"

"Oi! Moyashi! Slow the fuck down before you run into something!" Kanda's growl reverberated through the room from the ark gate.

"I've told you before! My name's Allen! Get it right!" Immediately following Allen's shout was a loud thud.

"Told you so. Baka."

The pair finally stepped out of the ark, Timcanpy flying behind them. The golem landed on Allen's head as the neko paused to stretch, but Kanda flew into action when he caught sight of Natasha, recognizing her in an instant. He drew his sword and pointed it at her. "You-"

He was interrupted by the clang of metal on metal. He tried to move his sword, but Allen had it firmly grasped in his Innocence hand. The neko was regretting not telling the samurai what was going on. He really hadn't thought that his lover would follow him all the way home; he'd even left his apprentice behind. "Put the sword away, Bakanda."

Kanda growled at him. "Moyashi, that's the-"

"What? You think I don't know that?!" Allen snorted. "I was there too, you know. She's here to fix me. Now put. The sword. Away."

"Children! Stop bickering!" Cross's tone was fierce, but inside he was laughing his head off. The brats were doing a good job at pretending they weren't together, but it didn't fool him for a second.

"Che." Kanda scoffed but sheathed Mugen.

Allen turned to Cross with a frown that was meant to be fierce but looked more like a pout. "We're not bickering. And I'm not a child anymore! I'm eighteen!"

Cross's retort went unheard when Natasha stepped between the two and placed a hand on Allen's cheek. The neko flinched, but didn't pull away. He desperately wanted to though; the last time that woman touched him he'd ended up with cat ears and a tail.

She looked him up and down before she spoke. "I don't understand. I thought I was here to dispel the curse. But he looks fine- oh!"

While she spoke, Allen had untied the bandana from around his head, dislodging Timcanpy from his perch. He shook his ears as they were freed; they always felt so cramped under that thing, yet he was too worried about the consequences of being seen to not wear it.

Natasha gaped at the sight of a teenager with cat ears. To say she was surprised was an understatement. She'd been expecting a cat, not a neko. She also could have sworn that the person she'd cursed was a girl...

When it became clear that Cross wasn't going to explain, Komui stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yes, we were able to determine that only some elements of the curse took hold, leaving Allen-kun in this half cat state."

"Ok." Natasha nodded in thought a few times before she turned her attention back to Allen. The way the neko was staring at her with those huge silver eyes, she had an unexplainable urge to hug him. "Umm, Allen, right? My name is Natasha... Umm, I'm going to do a simple reading spell on you. It will tell me what parts of my previous spell took hold, so that I know what to undo, ok?"

Allen nodded. He was having trouble forming words. Natasha hadn't moved her hand from his cheek and it was scaring him. Not because of what she'd done to him, but because her touch felt comforting, like he'd known it for a long time. The last time he'd felt that way was with Neah, the first time they'd spoken after the Noah was in his new host. And it understandably had him freaked out.

Natasha closed her eyes, and a soft blue light radiated from her hand as she concentrated. Kanda watched her every breath like a hawk, his hand on Mugen's hilt; he was not going to let this woman harm his Moyashi again.

Cross was watching her with similar thoughts, though with a little more faith in her. He was, after all, the only person in the room who knew that she was there of her own volition. By the time he had tracked her down, she had been struck by a major case of the guilts and wanted to make things right. But that didn't mean he wasn't prepared for if any of her spells went astray.

The light suddenly got piercingly bright and Natasha and Allen screamed in unison. Those watching had to cover their eyes or risk being blinded.

When everyone could see again, Allen was on the ground, clutching a hand to his left eye, and Natasha had backed up a few paces. She was covering her mouth and looked like she was about to throw up. Timcanpy fluttered around Allen's head, trying to make sure the neko was ok, but the golem was ignored.

"Put the sword away, Bakanda. I'm fine." Allen had the words out before the samurai had his sword fully drawn.

"Che. You don't look fine, Moyashi." Kanda scoffed, but sheathed his sword; now was not the time to piss Allen off.

Natasha stepped closer to Allen and knelt down in front of him. "Are you sure you're ok? You look a little pale."

Allen nodded as he forced himself into a sitting position. "I'm sure."

She looked wild-eyed from the neko to the others. "I- I don't know what happened. One moment I was searching for traces of my curse, and the next it was just ... hell."

"You hit my other curse." Allen's quiet words sounded like they were shouted in the quiet of the room. He dropped his hand, but he mistimed it and everyone saw his eye deactivate.

The words struck Natasha's guilt-ridden conscience hard. Not only had she cursed this boy who was completely innocent of the things she was angry over, but he had already been living with a curse long before she got to him. "I'm sorry for hurting you; will you let me pick up where I left off?"

Allen nodded slowly, and Natasha placed her hand on his cheek once again. The blue light returned as she restarted her spell. They sat like that for ten minutes before Natasha finally dropped her hand. When she spoke she was out of breath, but her fear and frustration were audible. "I can't find it. There should be at least some trace of it, but there's nothing."

"What do you mean, 'there's nothing'?" Cross crossed his arms and scowled at her; he wanted to be sure that he knew what was going on before he acted on how angry he felt.

Natasha frowned at the cat ears on Allen's head. She didn't understand it either. "If the curse was partially dispelled, then there should be fragments of it in his system. Even if it was dispelled completely, there would still be traces of it. But there aren't. I can't find anything to indicate that it was even there in the first place."

Unable to take her word for it, Cross stepped closer to the pair. He knelt in front of Allen and did his own spell on the neko. The teen made a face at the redhead for not asking him first, but was still too scared of his former teacher to actually complain out loud.

Cross cursed under his breath as he let his spell dissipate. "She's right. It's gone."

"Che. We told you that months ago. Why are you so surprised?" Kanda forced an annoyed expression to hide the concern he was feeling; his Moyashi wasn't going to take this news well.

Before Cross could react to the disrespectful comment, Komui intervened. "Kanda's right, Cross. Allen's Innocence fought off the curse, so it's understandable that it didn't leave any traces of it behind."

In the silence that followed, Allen sighed and pushed himself off the floor. He offered his left hand to Natasha, and helped her to her feet. The tingle that shot through his Innocence arm when she touched it was brushed off as it reacting to the witch who had cursed him. "Well, thanks for trying."

Everyone stared at the neko in confusion. They expected him to be pissed off. Or at least some form of upset. But his tone and body language clearly indicated that he accepted what Natasha was saying. "Oi! Idiot apprentice! Why the hell are you being so passive about this?"

Allen shrugged at Cross. "We knew from the beginning that this might not work. What good would getting worked up do?"

Kanda narrowed his eyes at his lover. "Really, Moyashi? You're not even a little upset?"

Allen hissed. "Bakanda! The only thing upsetting me is you. My name is Allen! Al-len! Get it right for once!"

He was going to say more, but the words died in his throat when Natasha touched his ear. She pulled her hand away when he turned to her. "Ah, sorry. Umm, I may not be able to find the curse, but I can still try to remove it if you want."

The neko smiled and shook his head. "Thank you, but I'm ok. It's been three months, so I've kinda gotten used to living like this."

"Are you sure about that, Allen-kun?" Komui was shocked by the change in Allen's attitude towards his curse; he had only ever seen the teen angry and upset.

Allen nodded at Komui. "I'm sure. I don't want to risk pissing off my Innocence. And I think I might just go crazy if I had to give up my enhanced senses."

Natasha reached out and touched his ear again. "But surely it can't be easy walking around with cat ears."

"And didn't you once say that you hated having a tail?"

Allen shrugged off the Supervisor's question. "Maybe. But it has its uses."

Kanda and Cross both caught the meaning of his words, causing the redheaded General to raise an eyebrow at the samurai.

Natasha frowned at Allen, she didn't understand how he was so calm, and that only made her feel worse about the whole thing. "If you don't want me to undo it, then there must be something else I can do to make it up to you."

Allen frowned in thought for a moment before he smiled hesitantly at her. "Could you tell me why you cursed me? I had assumed it was because you were the type of witch who liked cursing people, but you genuinely seem like a nice person. So why'd you do it?"

Natasha's face flushed with embarrassment. She'd been expecting that to come up, but she didn't really believe Cross when he had said they would understand. "Umm, of course, but it's not the kind of thing I want to share in a public place like this. Could we maybe go someplace more private?"

Allen blinked at her. "Sure. I-"

Cross cut Allen off. "Why don't we all go down to your office, Komui?"

.x.x.

I sat awkwardly on the couch in Komui's office. Awkwardly because Natasha, the witch who cursed me, was sitting beside me. Master Cross was sitting with his feet up on Komui's desk with Timcanpy resting on his head; it was obvious from his body language that he already knew at least some of what Natasha was about to tell us, and that worried me. Komui was sitting in one of the spare chairs, and despite my freaked out state I hoped he took notice of how uncomfortable they were.

My only source of comfort in the situation was that Kanda had followed us. I couldn't see him, he was leaning against the wall behind me, but that didn't make his presence any less reassuring.

The room was silent as we waited for Natasha to speak. I couldn't take my eyes off her. The longer I was near her, the more it felt like I knew her, and it was freaking me out. Finally, she sighed and opened her mouth. "Fifteen years ago, my three year old son was kidnapped."

I frowned. I felt bad for her, obviously, but what did this have to do with why she cursed me?

"We had a hard life. I had gotten pregnant at a young age, and was thrown out of my parents' house when they found out about it. I was taken in by a family friend, but he died just after the baby was born, and I once again found myself homeless. But Robin was my light. He kept me going when things got tough. And I managed to scrape together enough for us to live on.

"Then one day while we were traveling through London, a strange man approached me, and asked me all sorts of personal questions about Robin and his birthmark. My son had been born with a deformed left arm, and this stranger wanted to know all about it. It freaked me out, and I managed to get away from him. But he must have found out where we were staying, because when I woke up the next morning, Robin was gone.

"I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find him. There were no traces of Robin or the man who took him. It was during this time that I found magic, and I used my skills to get from one place to another, continuing to search for my lost son.

"Skip forward to three months ago, and I had given up all hope of ever seeing him again. And that's when I saw you, Allen."

I blinked when she suddenly looked up at me. But then she closed her eyes and placed a hand on the rose cross on my chest. "You were just walking through the crowd, minding your own business, wearing a coat with the same emblem on it as the one worn by the man who took my son. I went blind with rage when I saw you, and I exacted my vengeance on you."

Her hand moved to my ear, and she smiled somberly at me. And I noticed for the first time that her eyes were the same shade of silver as mine. "I am truly sorry for what I did to you. I knew you weren't the same person, but all reason went out the window when I saw that coat."

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by Komui. He leaned forward and gaped at her. "Wait! Are you saying that your son was kidnapped by an exorcist?!"

"Huh?"

Cross was sitting properly in his chair now, apparently, this was the part of the story that he hadn't known. He fed his cigarette butt to Timcanpy as he addressed the confused Natasha. "If the man who took your son was wearing a coat like Allen's, then he would have been an exorcist working for the Black Order."

She frowned and looked down at my coat before looking back at Cross. "It wasn't exactly like Allen's, it was a different design, and it wasn't gold like this one: it was silver like the one he was wearing back when I cursed him. But it definitely had that same emblem on the chest."

I felt my head start to spin. I was cursed because an exorcist kidnapped this woman's baby years and years ago?

Komui seemed shocked. "What did this man look like?"

Natasha finally moved her hand off my ear. "Aside from his coat, he was really nondescript: short brown hair, Caucasian, about the same height as the angry Asian over there." She jerked her thumb at Kanda briefly. "Why do you ask?"

Komui kept a serious face as he spoke. "The Order keeps very detailed records on its personnel. If it truly was an exorcist who took your son, then the boy was probably brought here. We might be able to find the records on it."

Natasha lit up like a Christmas tree. I couldn't help but feel excited for her. "You mean you can find my son?!"

"Maybe." Komui frowned deeply. "Fifteen years ago was before my time as Supervisor. And the man you described does not sound familiar at all. You said your son was taken in London? And he'd be eighteen now, right?"

She nodded vigorously. I felt my heart start to pound hard. It was getting hard to breathe... _'Eighteen'... 'London'... 'Deformed left arm'... Is it possible?_

Komui sighed. "I'd have to check the records for him too. In all my time here, there's only been one male exorcist that age, and that's Allen. But he only joined us three years ago, so there's no way he's connected to this. Right, Allen-kun?"

I felt like I was going to throw up. _There's no way... But the age is right. And then there's her eye color... It makes sense... No. It's too impossible_... I made a squeaking noise when I tried to speak.

"Allen-kun?"

"Oi, Moyashi. What's wrong?"

There was another squeak before I found my voice. "You're forgetting that I'm an orphan. I never knew my parents. I grew up alone... on the streets... in London."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: Mwahahahaha... I'm feeling evil for breaking the chapter there, but it's a great cliffhanger, right?


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Time to find out if Natasha really is Allen's mother...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

 _"You're forgetting that I'm an orphan. I never knew my parents. I grew up alone... on the streets... in London."_

Everyone's eyes were on me. I wasn't looking at her, but I could tell Natasha's expression was full of disbelief. "But you can't be-"

I pushed up my left sleeve and held my arm out where she could see it. "I broke it a while ago, so it looks different now, but it used to be red and veiny, and didn't work right."

Her mouth fell open as she stared at my arm. She took my hand in hers and looked it over. That tingling sensation from earlier returned, and I knew what it was now: my Innocence was reacting to my mother's touch.

Cross broke the tense silence that had fallen. He stood and pulled open one of the desk drawers. "Komui, you better go find those records right now. Start with exorcists who were killed fifteen years ago; if what Allen's suggesting is true, they probably didn't make it back to the Order because the man died."

Komui hurried from the room as Cross pulled a file from the drawer. He came over to us and dropped it in my lap. I looked down at the thick folder and was met with a photo of my pre-neko self. It was _my_ file. When I looked back to Cross to question him, he was already at the door. "I'm going to go keep an eye on Komui; I don't trust that psycho to not get distracted."

I turned my attention back to the file and flipped it open. The first page was clearly why Cross had given me the file: there were several photographs paperclipped to the page, including ones from before my Innocence changed forms. I pulled them out and handed them one at a time to Natasha. "This is what my arm used to look like."

She froze on a picture of me with my old arm completely visible. She looked from it to me a few times before she set the pictures on top of the open file. "I'm sorry. It's not enough. Your arm may have once been like my Robin's, but you can't _be_ him. You look nothing like him."

I closed the file and sighed heavily. "If only Tim still had those recordings of me from before I was cursed."

Natasha's hand was suddenly in my hair, her fingers brushing through it like she was trying to soothe me. "Why would recordings from before I cursed you make a difference?"

I shook my head as I looked at her. "Not your curse, my other curse. Before it happened my hair was reddish brown."

The fingers in my hair froze and I knew that I had just described her son's hair color. I was growing more and more positive that I really was Robin. My mother's voice was hesitant when she spoke. "What kind of reddish brown?"

"Similar to yours, just with more red in it." It was hard to be exact; my hair had been white for so long that I could barely remember it being another color.

There was a tugging on the back of my hair. I looked up to find Kanda giving me a weird look. "You used to be a redhead, Moyashi?"

I blinked at him. "Yeah. I thought I told you that." The expression on his face said I hadn't.

"Allen." My focus moved from Kanda back to my mother, but he was still leaning on the back of the couch. Natasha looked scared, and I could tell from her eyes that she wasn't ready to believe what I was saying. "What has you so convinced that you're my son? I understand that there are a lot of similarities, but surely they're just coincidences. I don't want you to get either of our hopes up."

I sighed and looked back down at my file. It only took me a second to find the picture I was looking for: one of the Innocence cross in the back of my hand. I showed it to Natasha. "Your son was born with a green cross just like this one embedded in his left hand, wasn't he?"

When she nodded, her silver eyes were full of shock. "How did you know that?"

I dropped my gaze back to the picture so that I wouldn't have to see her expression any more; the more I looked at her, the more resemblances between us I saw. "Here at the Black Order we call those fragments 'Innocence', and those who possess Innocence become exorcists. That's why your son was taken from you: he possessed an Innocence fragment, so he would have been brought here to test it and learn to use it."

"Is that what you were talking about earlier, when you said you didn't want to piss off your Innocence?"

I nodded and returned the picture to the file. "Innocence fragments have special powers, and because mine is part of my body, my bond with my Innocence is especially strong. It's what made me like this after you cursed me."

Natasha was silent for a moment after I mentioned her curse. "What does this Innocence have to do with why you're so convinced you're my son?"

I forced myself to smile at her. "I'm so convinced that you're my mother because my Innocence is telling me that you are."

"Oi, Moyashi." Kanda was tugging at my hair again. "Are you sure it's not just freaking out because of what she did to you?"

"I'm positive, Yuu." He tugged on my hair again after my annoyed retort. I turned to glare at him, but there was nothing but concern in his cobalt eyes. I sighed and kissed him briefly. "I know my Innocence strained itself to make me this way, so it makes sense that you would think that, but it would be acting completely different if there was something to be worried about."

He seemed at a loss for words, so I kissed him again before I turned back to Natasha. I briefly worried about what my mother thought of me kissing Kanda like that, but she was looking at her lap, with her long hair falling into her face, and it was obvious that she hadn't noticed the public display of affection.

She sighed heavily before she spoke. "I don't understand."

I blinked at her. "What don't you understand?"

"You." The blunt way she said the word hurt. "How can you be so ... calm about all this? Shouldn't you be angry or upset or something? I mean, I _cursed_ you. How can you be so accepting of the possibility that I might be your mother?"

Cross's abrasive laughter came from the doorway before I could respond. Komui was right behind him, carrying a small box with files in it. I glared up at my former teacher, but couldn't actually make myself tell him to shut up. "That's just who Allen is. The brat's the nicest person you'll ever meet."

I made a face at him, but he just laughed again. "His problem with this isn't that you cursed him, he forgave you for that a long time ago. Do you want to tell her what your problem really is, Allen?"

I scowled at him before my gaze fell to my lap. Cross' expression was clearly ordering me to talk even though I didn't want to. "I... I grew up believing that my birth parents threw me away because they didn't want me. If you... if you're really my mother, then ... then everything I thought I knew about myself and where I came from is wrong. I don't know if I could handle that."

My admission was met with silence. I was still staring at the file in my lap, so I couldn't see their expressions. But the awkward moment passed when Komui cleared his throat. "I've located the files. There were eight male exorcists who were killed in the time period we're concerned with. Would you recognize the man who took your child if you saw his picture, Natasha?"

She nodded. "Absolutely."

Komui set the box down on his desk, and Natasha got up and joined him. They looked through the files together. I stayed where I was. Despite how convinced I was that she was my mother, I wished I was wrong. I didn't want to find my family like this. I didn't want the witch who cursed me to be my mother. I didn't want this to be my backstory.

"Are you ok, Allen?"

Kanda's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. It took a second to realize that his whisper was so low that I was the only one who heard it. It was an interesting question, and the truth was that I wanted to lie to him and tell him I was fine. But I couldn't lie to Kanda, and even if I did, he would see right through it; he knew me too well. I shook my head slightly, just enough so that only he would pick up the motion.

We were interrupted by a muffled cry from Natasha as she staggered back and fell into a chair. "That's him. That's the man who took my baby."

I felt a chill run down my spine. We were right; her son really was kidnapped by an exorcist. Komui opened the file and quickly flipped through it until he found the pages on the man's death. The supervisor's voice was hesitant as he shared the details with us. "He died in an akuma attack. He and a handful of finders were on their way back to headquarters from a mission in London when they were ambushed. He and the finders all died..." Komui's voice faltered with his next words. "There was no trace of the suspected accommodator that they were escorting."

The color drained from Natasha's face. "What does that mean?"

No one answered her. We all knew that it meant that her son was dead, and none of us could bring ourselves to say it out loud. The only sound in the room was Komui continuing to flip through the file.

As terrible as this was, I felt relieved. I was wrong. This woman wasn't my mother. _But if that's true... It's strange that we were right about the exorcist dying before he made it back to headquarters. That theory only came up because we were thinking that I was the child..._

My realization came at the same time as a groan from Komui. He held a page out towards Natasha. "Is this your son?"

She nodded, a few tears sliding down her cheeks. I didn't have to see the picture to know that the child in it was recognizable as me. Not when Natasha immediately threw herself at me and wrapped me in a tight hug. Her stray tears morphed to full on sobbing as she mumbled incoherently, calling me her baby and apologizing repeatedly.

My own tears started falling. I couldn't help it. For the first time in my memory, I was being held by my mother. It was a completely indescribable feeling.

.x.x.

Allen and Natasha spent the next ten minutes crying in each other's arms. It was hard watching my Moyashi embrace the woman who had cursed him. I still wanted to hurt her for what she had done. But my hands were tied. Not only had the Moyashi made it very clear that he didn't want that, but she was his mother...

My Moyashi had a mother. That was somewhat mind blowing. I couldn't help feeling a little jealous. Even if I was able to remember and track down my original parents, they'd never recognize me; not that that mattered, they were probably dead by now anyway.

When the crying _finally_ died down, Natasha slid away from Allen and buried her face in her hands. She groaned deeply and then started sobbing again. "Oh god! I cursed my own son!"

Allen moved closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He hid it well, but I could see the anxiety written all over his face; this was an entirely new situation for him, and he was unsure of himself. "But if you hadn't, then none of this would have happened."

We all stared at Allen in confusion. _Wasn't that her point?_ Natasha looked up at him and their silver gazes locked. He smiled gently at her. "If you hadn't cursed me, then we wouldn't have gone looking for you, and you wouldn't have ended up here. You never would have found out that I was your son, never would have learned that I was alive and well."

She laughed lightly and caressed his ear. "That's one way of looking at it, I suppose. But are you really ok with this, or just trying to avoid hurting my feelings?"

I almost laughed. The Moyashi's mother hadn't seen him in fifteen years and she already had him figured out. But I was surprised when he actually gave her an honest answer. "I don't know. It's hard to say right now. I need-"

Without warning, Allen suddenly stood from the couch and addressed Komui. "Is Lenalee here right now?"

"She is. What-?" His question cut off as Allen bolted from the room; instead, it morphed into yelling for Allen to keep his hands off his sister.

I grabbed Komui's shoulder to stop him from following after Allen, trying to hold in my frustration towards the man; my Moyashi was clearly not one of those 'octopuses' that were interested in his sister. "Calm the fuck down, Komui. He only wants to talk to her. He just learned that he was taken from his family as a child. She's the one person in the entire Order who knows what he's feeling."

My attempt to leave resulted in Komui catching my wrist and stopping me while I was halfway out the door. "Wait, where are _you_ going?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled away from him. "Che. Greece. I've wasted enough time on this stupid shit. I've got a mission to get back to."

I didn't want to leave, not when my Moyashi was in such turmoil, but there were too many other people around for me to comfort him like I wanted. All I was doing was standing around worrying about the neko, and that was more annoying than he was; I hated not being able to do anything. So I went back to my unfinished mission. I'd come back tonight when I'd be able to catch the Moyashi alone.

.x.x.

I opened my bedroom door on the first knock. Needless to say, I was more than a little startled to see Allen there. The freaked out look on his face scared me. "What are you doing here, Allen? Aren't you supposed to be in Greece with Kanda and Camilla?"

Instead of answering my question, he pushed past me and walked over to my bed. He collapsed onto his stomach with a groan, laying sideways across the blankets. His ears twitched as he lay there, taking a moment before he said whatever it was he wanted to say. "I met my mother today."

I felt my eyes grow wide. "...Allen..."

The neko gave a short muffled laugh. "Apparently she's spent the last fifteen years looking for me. Turns out I wasn't abandoned because of my arm, I was kidnapped."

My heart stopped. "You don't mean..."

Allen sighed and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. I watched him in horror, praying he wasn't saying what I thought he was saying. "You know exactly what I mean, Lena."

I sat beside him on the bed with a heavy sigh. "So I wasn't the only child ripped from their home for being an accommodator."

I reached over and began stroking one of Allen's cat ears. We sat like that for a while, neither of us saying anything. He had come to me for comfort, knowing that I knew exactly what he was going through. It was something I had struggled with for a long time, working for the organization that had ruined my life. There was no need for words when we both were feeling the same pain.

But eventually my curiosity got the better of me. "Do you remember her?"

Allen blinked at me a couple times before he figured out what I was asking. "Sort of. I was three when I was taken, so I don't exactly have memories from when I was that age, but there's something there. Like a feeling that I can trust her."

"So... what's she like?" The look on his face made me laugh, and I tugged playfully on the ear between my fingers. "Come on, Allen, it can't be that bad!"

He snorted and pushed my hand away. "Her name's Natasha. From what I've seen so far, she's a lot like me."

I laughed at that. "So, kind and sweet, with a bit of a crybaby side, and all of that hiding a fierce temper?"

Allen stuck his tongue out at me. Then he suddenly sighed and stared up at the ceiling again. "She's got me beat on the temper part."

"What do you mean?"

I was not expecting his next words to be, "She's the witch who did this to me."

"Allen! What?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Your _mother_ cursed you?"

I listened with bated breath as he told me the story. It was quite incredible. "So wait, your mother cursed you because you reminded her of the man who took you when you were a child? That's..."

He laughed humorlessly. "Yeah. It's a little messed up. I-"

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by a timid knock on the door. Leaving Allen still laying on my bed, I got up to answer the door. The woman in the hallway was someone I'd never seen before, but once I looked beyond the blue streaks in her hair, the resemblance between her and Allen was uncanny. She smiled nervously at me. "Are you Lenalee? I'm looking for Allen."

I echoed her smile. "You must be Natasha. He's in here."

I held the door open for her, but she didn't come in. I turned back to Allen to find that he had pushed himself to a sitting position, but he was avoiding looking at Natasha. I snorted as I pulled him off the bed and shoved him towards the open door. "Idiot. She's your mother. You'll hate yourself forever if you don't take this chance to get to know her."

He made a face at me, but instead of conveying his annoyance, it just looked adorable. I pulled him into a hug and kissed his forehead. The interaction earned us a giggle from the doorway. "I didn't mean to interrupt, Allen. If you need more time with your girlfriend, I can wait."

"She's not my girlfriend."

Allen's denial was quick, and it stung. I shoved him away a little harder than I should have. "I know you're gay, but you don't have to be so mean about it!"

The silver eyes that stared back at me were wide with horror. "Lena-lee!"

"Oops. Sorry." I turned bright red as I realized I had just accidentally outed Allen. "At least it was just your mother, right?"

He made a face at me and closed the door hard behind him. I collapsed on the bed, praying that I hadn't just accidentally ruined the best friendship I'd ever had.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: We're down to the final chapters. Come back in two weeks for the next life-shattering chapter of Allen's life. ;)


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: This chapter starts with a bit of a flashback. Enjoy!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Cross had finally tracked her down. The witch who had hurt his apprentice was here in this town, he could feel it. And it wasn't some gut feeling, he could literally feel it. He had locked on to her magical aura, and it was radiating out of a building near the town center.

He made his way to what turned out to be a small café. The bell on the door jingled as he walked inside, prepared for a fight. The room in front of him was empty save for the man at the counter and the woman he was hunting. She was sitting with her back to him, giving him a perfect view of her long blue streaked hair.

Something nagged at Cross from his memory, something that said he knew her. But Cross was not the type to forget a woman he'd been with. He may not always treat them the best when the relationship was over, but he never forgot them. So he pushed that feeling aside; if he didn't remember her, then he hadn't slept with her, and any other connection he might have had with her was unimportant.

She spoke without looking up, addressing Cross before he stepped completely into the room. "So you've finally chosen to reveal yourself. Tell me, why have you been following me for the past month?"

"I've been trying to track you down for the past three months. You are a very hard woman to find."

The woman spun around at the sound of a familiar voice, one she hadn't heard in almost twenty years. She almost burst into tears at the sight of him; the redhead looked almost exactly like she remembered. "Cross?! Cross Marian?! Is that really you?!"

Cross scowled at the witch. Was this a trick, or did she actually know him from somewhere? She laughed at the expression on his face. "Oh, you probably don't remember me. It's been eighteen years after all, and I was just a teenager back then, but we used to date."

It was a trick then; he had already determined that he'd never been with this woman. But just before he acted, the memories clicked into place. Instead of drawing his pistol, he snapped the piece back into place in its holster. "Natasha?"

Cross found himself wrapped in a tight hug. Without Allen beside him, giving him grief about his womanizing ways, the hug was just annoying. Looking down at the brunette, he wondered why he had forgotten her. They had been together for about six months, nearly nineteen years ago. It was one of his longest relationships, and one of the few where he wasn't using the woman for her money or status. Her mother was probably the one woman on the planet who didn't like him, and her father hated him just as much.

There was something wrong though, the Natasha he used to date was not a witch. She had the potential to use magic, it was what had initially drawn him to her, but she didn't actually know anything about it. She was also a lot like Allen, incapable of harming a living thing. "What happened to you?"

"What are you talking about?" Natasha pulled away from him and gave him a confused look. Cross cursed himself for comparing her to his idiot apprentice; her expression was one that the boy wore a lot, and the resemblance between the two was freaky.

But speaking of Allen... "You used to be this sweet, innocent young woman. And now you're a witch who goes around cursing people? What happened?"

Natasha frowned at her former lover. "It's true I'm a witch now, but where did you get the idea that I curse peop- _oh_. How'd you know about that?!"

"I was there." Cross growled at her. "That kid you cursed was my apprentice."

"So that's why you're here." She calmly sat down in the nearest chair. She'd been expecting the repercussions of that day ever since she came to her senses the morning after. "Do what you came here to do. But can I make a request first, for old times' sake?"

"And what would that be?" Cross stood frozen in the doorway, torn between wanting to get revenge for Allen and the memory of the feelings he once held towards Natasha.

"Would you let me try to fix it? I regret what I did, and I'd like the chance to make it right before you punish me."

"I'm going to need a better explanation than that." Cross crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her. The sincere expression on her face was bothering him, and not just because it was reminding him of Allen. "You cursed the brat, and now you want to take it back? What's really going on?"

Sensing he wanted the quickest explanation possible, Natasha tried to tell him only the relevant details. "Not long after you left me, I had a child. When he was three, he was kidnapped. I've spent the entire time since then looking for him. Your apprentice reminded me of the man who took him, and I just ... reacted. I gave in to my anger and cursed the kid."

Cross laughed internally; Allen really did have the worst luck. Only _he_ would get cursed by a witch who had never cursed anyone before.

Focusing in on Natasha, Cross was surprised to find that his feelings for her were still there. She was still a gorgeous woman, and her spirit was stronger than ever. And that was his true weakness: a woman who was too strong for her own good.

It was no surprise to either of them that his suggestion to talk somewhere private ended with them, back in her hotel room, not talking at all.

.x.x.x.x.x.

~Present Day~

Closing the door behind me, I hoped Lenalee understood that I was upset in general, not at her specifically. To be honest, I knew I was eventually going to have to tell my mother that I was gay; having Lenalee say it like that might have made it easier. I could get it out of the way right away, and I wouldn't waste the time getting to know her if she was just going to reject me for it. However, it would have been a lot less nerve wracking if I knew whether or not she could keep a secret.

As I turned away from the door, I found Natasha smiling at me, all traces of her earlier uncertainty were gone. She pulled me into a sideways hug as she led me away from Lenalee's room. "So apparently instead of asking about a girlfriend, I should have asked about a boyfriend."

She released me from the awkward hug, and we continued to walk alongside each other. "This may sound weird to you, but I'm glad that's the case. I was trying to raise you to be open minded; I wanted you to be able to accept love wherever you found it, even if it was from another man. My parents threw me out for falling in love with a man fifteen years older than I was, and I didn't want you to ever have to deal with that kind of pain. I promised myself a long time ago that when I finally found you, I'd make sure that you felt loved and accepted."

I couldn't help smiling at her. I may have only met her a couple hours ago, but it meant a lot to me that my mother didn't care that I was gay. "Actually, that makes perfect sense to me."

"So are you seeing someone? Or are you still looking?"

I should have known that was what she'd want to know next. But something she said was bothering me, and I needed an answer for that before I would be willing to tell her about Kanda. "...I'm seeing someone... But before we get into that, I have a question for you. Earlier you said that your parents threw you out for getting pregnant, but just now you said it was because you fell in love with someone they didn't approve of. That's a little... I mean, which-"

Light laughter cut off my attempt to form a coherent sentence. "It was the combination of both. They never liked your father, and they took it out on me when I discovered that I was pregnant. And it certainly didn't help that he disappeared on me before I could tell him about you."

So she _was_ talking about my father. I felt a little sick to my stomach at that thought. But Natasha seemed to sense my discomfort. She laughed lightly and squeezed my shoulders. "We don't have to talk about him if you don't want to. Why don't you tell me about your boyfriend instead?"

"There's not much to talk about. You've already met him."

Natasha suddenly stopped in her tracks. I knew she would figure it out; after all, she had only met one guy my age since she'd been here. "Wait. You mean the angry Asian guy? ... oh. That's why he was so rude wasn't it? He was mad at me for what I did to you."

I laughed just a little at her description of Kanda. "He was probably also mad at me for not being mad at you. But yes, I imagine he's quite pissed at you for the curse thing."

We stood there in silence for a moment. Natasha was clearly uncomfortable with where the conversation had drifted. So we carried on walking, and she changed the subject. "Speaking of curses... Do you mind telling me about your other one? I understand if you don't, something like that is probably really personal, and I know from what I saw earlier that it's pretty vicious. I'm just curious, you don't have to-"

Her babbling made me laugh. "Relax. I'm not offended that you asked."

She gave me a confused look, and I smiled at her. "My curse isn't a secret. _Everyone_ here knows all about it. So I don't mind telling you about it. But like you said, it's not pleasant..."

We walked while I told the story, reaching Komui's office before I was even halfway done. Kanda was gone, presumably to rejoin Camilla on our interrupted mission, but Cross and Komui were both still there. They let me finish my story, and Cross chimed in more than once when I stumbled over my explanations.

It was weird that he was helping, but I wasn't stupid. I knew it was because of her. Natasha was one of Cross' lovers. Whether that was current or former, I didn't know. Or care. And I _definitely_ didn't want to find out. It was bad enough just knowing that my mother and Master Cross had been with each other; I didn't need the details.

When my story was finished, Natasha let out a heavy sigh. She placed her hand on the left side of my face, and ran her thumb along the scar line under my eye. But it wasn't me she was looking at; it was Cross. "What was your role in all of this?"

"I found him after the incident, nursed him back to health, and then took him on as my apprentice. He trained with me for three years before I sent him here."

I couldn't help snorting derisively at Cross' explanation. "Sure, if you consider dragging me to brothels and bars, watching you get drunk and sleep around, making me pay off all your debts, and teaching me to gamble 'training'."

"You got something to say, brat?"

His tone and expression made me bristle. "I believe I just said it! You were a pathetic excuse for a master!"

"Ungrateful brat!" While everything I'd said prior to that point just seemed to amuse him, Cross was pissed now. "After everything I did for you!"

I refused to back down. I had finally found the nerve to tell him off, and I wasn't going to let it slip away. "Don't act like it was because you wanted to. You only took me in because I was the Fourteenth's host."

My statement was met with dead silence as Cross slowly ground out his cigarette. I couldn't see his face, and that scared me. "Speaking of the Fourteenth... where is he?"

I snorted in annoyance. "How the hell should I know? Last I heard, he was in Cairo or Alexandria. Somewhere in Egypt."

 _ **I'm in Barcelona.**_ I rolled my eyes as the voice filled my head. _Of course he's been listening._ _**But if you need me, I can be there in a heartbeat.**_

I balked at the offer. _**That**_ won't _ **be necessary.**_

 _ **Suit yourself.**_

Returning my focus to the room around me, Cross was clearly waiting for me to answer a question I didn't hear. I stared blankly at him, wondering if I could figure out what he'd asked from his expression.

But before I could, Komui stepped in. "If I may interrupt, we've gotten off topic. I'm sure Natasha doesn't want to see you two bicker like that."

The hand on my face moved to my ear as she giggled lightly. "I don't mind. It's nice to see them argue. I was worried they wouldn't like each other."

We all stared at her like she was crazy. _She thought that was us_ liking _each other?_

Natasha just laughed at our expressions. "Of course, bickering is to be expected, teenage boys don't always get along with their fathers after all."

The other two laughed with her, obviously not hearing the same thing I did. My blood ran cold at what she had offhandedly said. _Cross is my father? That can't be true!_ Sure she might have meant it in the same way Teidoll did when he talked about Kanda, but I seriously doubted that. I felt like throwing up. " _Please_ tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

She just smiled sheepishly at me, confirming that yes, it did mean what I was thinking. "Fuck."

Cross sounded confused when he spoke, but I didn't dare look at him; I did _not_ want to see his face when he put it together. "What are you talking about?"

I couldn't answer him, my ability to speak was gone. Natasha looked towards him, but he understood before she could explain. "Wait, so when you said that you had a kid 'not long' after I left, you meant..."

"You left before I could tell you I was pregnant."

I wanted to enjoy this. Back in my years with Cross, I often imagined one of those women he was with telling him they'd had his baby. I would laugh at him over it, and then he would finally go straight and stop his womanizing ways.

It wasn't so amusing when _I_ was the baby in question.

This was a thousand times worse than finding out that the witch who caused me to turn into a neko was my mother. Cross being my biological father was just so ... impossible.

Cross and Natasha continued to talk, but I didn't hear what they were saying. I might have blacked out a little. The next thing I was aware of was Komui kneeling in front of me. He had a hand on my shoulder and was staring into my eyes. "Are you ok, Allen-kun?"

Before I could respond, Neah's voice filled my head again. _**Ok. I'm here. Tell me where you are.**_

 _ **Wait, what?!**_ **Where** _ **are you?**_

 _ **In the entrance hall. Duh.**_

 _ **And**_ **why** _**are you in the entrance hall?**_ My head hurt so badly. It took a second, but I figured out that he had probably picked up on my distress and was coming to calm me down. _**No, never mind. Just stay there. I'll come to you.**_

Frowning deeply, I pushed Komui away and got to my feet. As much as I didn't want to deal with Neah right then, it was infinitely preferable to staying where I was.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: So Allen's having a great day, right? Let me know what you think...


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Here we go, the second to last chapter...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The Fourteenth Noah was instantly on edge when Allen walked into the room. The neko's ears were pinned flat against his head and his tail was thrashing from side to side. Add in the look in the teen's silver eyes, and it was clear he was incredibly agitated by whatever it was that had caused the feelings of distress that Neah had picked up. He had initially assumed that the kid had a fight with his boyfriend, but that was clearly not the case.

"What do you want, Neah?" Allen's tone, coupled with the fact that he wasn't speaking telepathically, only made the Noah more concerned for his wellbeing.

But before he could ask the neko what was wrong, someone else came into the room. Neah looked past Allen to the woman who had clearly followed him there. His golden eyes widened at the sight of her. "Natasha? What are you doing here?"

"You two know each other?" Allen looked from Neah to his mother before throwing his hands up with an irritated groan. "Of course you know each other, why wouldn't you?"

Neah turned his confused look from Natasha to the grumbling teenager. "I'm more interested in how _you two_ know each other. She's not exactly someone you would see in your line of work. So, spill. How do you know Natasha?"

Allen crossed his arms and scowled at the Noah. "She's my mother."

Neah raised an eyebrow at the neko. "Your mother? As in, the woman who gave birth to you?!"

The teen shrugged. "Apparently. Though you probably know her better as the witch who cursed me."

It took Neah longer than he would ever admit to control the rage that bubbled up inside him. Allen laughed at the murderous thoughts the Noah unintentionally transmitted to him. "Relax, Neah. I already told you, my Innocence made me like this. She's already tried to undo her spell, but it wouldn't let her. Let it go."

Natasha smiled at the interaction between the two. She didn't know much about Neah, but she knew he wasn't a normal human, and clearly Allen knew that as well. Their interactions made it rather obvious that they had a connection that went well beyond friendship. "So how do you two know each other?"

Allen frowned at the question. There were so many possible answers to it and each was more complicated than the last. "I told you about Mana, my adoptive father. Well, Neah's his brother."

Neah quirked an eyebrow at his nephew. "Really? That's all you're going to tell her?"

The neko snorted. _**Given that I still don't know how**_ **you** _ **know her, I was waiting to find out what she already knows about you before I said more. Besides, telling her that you used to possess me seemed like a bad idea.**_

Natasha looked from one young man to the other. "What's going on?"

"You're not going to like the answer to that question." Cross spoke from where he had appeared in the doorway. Ignoring Natasha, as he was having a hard time processing that bomb she'd dropped on him, the redhead focused his stare on the Fourteenth Noah. "Neah."

"Marian." Neah's greeting was equally cold, but before he said more, he caught that same wave of distress from Allen that had brought him to headquarters. _**What's wrong? Why are you suddenly scared of**_ Marian _ **?**_

When Allen didn't respond, standing frozen like he'd seen a ghost, Neah read the kid's recent memories. The answer he found made him laugh so hard that he collapsed to the ground.

The Noah's laughter earned him a smack to the back of the head from a very upset neko. "I told you not to read my mind like that, Neah!"

"But I wanted to know, and you were never going to tell me!" The Fourteenth pouted at his former host.

Allen's tail curled behind him as he hissed at Neah. "That's because I didn't want you to know!"

Neah turned from the pouting neko to the two who were watching them bicker. He smirked devilishly at Cross. The redhead had figured out what was happening and was scowling at the Noah, daring him to say what he was thinking. The unspoken threat only made the Noah's smirk bigger. "So you did end up with an illegitimate child, Marian. I told you that you should have been more careful."

Allen winced at being described like that. It was still so hard for him to believe that Cross was actually his father. Ignoring the redhead and the Fourteenth as they shot insults back and forth, he carefully approached Natasha, who was looking very lost. He didn't know what to say to her, but he knew he should say something. Because as hard as it was to believe that Cross was his father, he had no trouble accepting Natasha as his mother, and he didn't like seeing her look so lost.

Mother and son shared an awkward smile, and all of Allen's uncertainty towards Natasha melted away. His ears perked up and his smile brightened as he guided her out of the entry hall. "You know that Neah's not entirely human, right Mum?"

She nodded; more than a little stunned that Allen would actually call her that. "Sort of. He mentioned that once, but he never explained."

The neko led the way into the small lounge next door. As they sat down, he explained the Noah and their role in the war as briefly as he could. "Anyway, Neah is the Fourteenth Noah. He betrayed the rest of the Noah several years ago and they killed him for it. He survived by implanting his memories in a human host, and when he awakened earlier this year, he joined our side."

He paused to let Natasha ask her question, even though he knew what it would be. "And how do you connect to all this?"

Allen sighed and began fiddling with his tail. He didn't want to have to tell her this part. But a gruff voice spoke, answering the question for him. "He was the host that Neah planted his memories in."

Natasha's silver eyes widened as she looked from Allen's grimace to where Cross was standing in the doorway with Neah. She had questions, but Cross didn't give her the chance to ask them. "And that's the part I don't understand. You should have disappeared when the Noah in you awoke. How did you survive that?"

Knowing Allen wouldn't say it, Neah answered for him. "We found a new host for me before I fully awakened."

As grateful as he was to be alive, Allen's caring spirit still hated that he'd had to sacrifice someone else to do it, and he felt the need to explain that to Cross. "Neither of us wanted him to take me over, and my Innocence would have fallen if he had, so we found someone else for him to take over."

Silence fell as Natasha and Cross processed everything they'd been told. Neah grinned at the others. "Speaking of that, I think I figured out how I ended up in Allen in the first place."

Allen turned in his seat to stare wide-eyed at the Noah, the ears on his head standing up straight. "Really?"

"Yep." Neah's grin turned smug as he pointed at Cross. "It's his fault."

The redhead nearly snarled at the Noah. "My fault? How is it my fault? Wasn't it _your_ idiot brother who put you in the stray kid he picked up?"

Neah snorted. "First of all, Mana would never have done that to anyone, especially not Allen. And second, don't you think it's a little ironic that you spent thirty-some years looking for my host, only for it to turn out to be the illegitimate son you never knew you had?"

The pair continued to bicker back and forth, as Allen just sat there stunned. What Neah was suggesting made sense; Cross was one of his biggest supporters, it was believable that his memories had ended up in the man's child. And maybe it was wishful thinking on the neko's part, but it made more sense that he ended up as Neah's host because he was Cross' son than because Mana had done it to him on purpose.

Natasha was also stunned by everything she'd just heard. So much of it was just plain disturbing, and she didn't like it. But it all seemed to have worked out somehow, so she put it aside and let her thoughts turn from what Allen had been through to the neko himself. The cat ears on his head made it hard to look at him, not just because they were a reminder of the stupidest thing she had ever done, but because he never got mad at her for it. Even the way he sat there fiddling with his tail screamed his acceptance of that situation. But he had taken it further than just acceptance. The way he smiled at her when their gazes locked made it quite clear that he loved her; he'd only known her for a few hours, but he already loved her. And that had been her greatest fear, that her son would reject her when she finally found him. It blew her mind that he was already willing to call her "Mum".

Eventually Neah and Cross grew tired of bickering, and the room fell silent. No one really knew what to say next. Well, Allen had a topic in mind, but it took him a bit to work up the nerve to ask what he was thinking. "Can we keep this a secret?"

Natasha blinked at the neko and pushed herself out of her seat. What he was suggesting hurt her deeply. She had thought that he had accepted her. "Are you embarrassed by me?"

Seeing how hurt she was, Allen hurried to correct her. He hopped up and gave her an awkward hug. "No, Mum, never. We may have met under bizarre circumstances, but I'm so happy to have found you. You're not the problem, he is."

Cross narrowed his eye at the neko as the teen gestured at him. He knew exactly what the neko was suggesting, and was unsure whether or not he should be offended by it. "You're talking about not telling the Order that I'm your father."

Allen nodded, forcing himself not to wince at the phrase. "Yeah. Obviously, Komui already knows, and I'll probably end up telling Kanda, but I'm worried about what will happen if this gets out. Neither of us are Central's favorites, and there's no telling how they'll react to this."

There was a lot of truth to what Allen was saying, but Cross would never admit to that. "You just don't want your friends to tease you over this."

The neko snorted at the very true accusation. "Oh, like you want Teidoll or Klaud to find out that you have a kid?"

"Touché."

Neah shrugged when Allen looked to him. "I see no reason to tell anyone."

When the neko turned back to Natasha, she pulled him back into a hug and ruffled his hair. "I want to meet all of your friends though. How am I supposed to do that if we're keeping this a secret?"

Allen laughed lightly at her confusion. "Just don't tell them who my father is, Mum."

The tender moment was interrupted by Cross, who was more than a little uncomfortable with the whole situation. "If you want to keep this a secret, you should probably go explain that to Komui before he runs his mouth off to someone."

"Ah, right." Allen pulled away from his mother's hug, but Neah stopped him from going anywhere.

"I'll do it. I have to go talk to him anyway." The Noah smirked devilishly at Cross before he turned his attention back to where Natasha and Allen were standing. "Why don't you come with me, Natasha? Let's give these two a moment alone."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: See you in two weeks for the final chapter, and then it's on to the sequel!


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Here's the final chapter. It's not the longest chapter, but it's longer than the last few have been. Also, for those reviewers who were wondering: there is a lemon in this chapter.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

 _The Noah smirked devilishly at Cross before he turned his attention back to where Natasha and Allen were standing. "Why don't you come with me, Natasha? Let's give these two a moment alone."_

Panic filled the pit of his stomach at the thought of being left alone with Cross now that he knew the man was his father, but Allen could do nothing but watch as Natasha and Neah left the room together. He stared blankly at Cross as the redhead approached him, but he didn't run away like he wanted to. The neko knew they needed to talk and was choosing to get it over with as quickly as possible.

The redhead stopped a few feet from his former apprentice. Looking at the teen in front of him, to his surprise, all he felt was guilt. He should have been there from the beginning, should have treated the kid better when he was training him, should have stepped in before he tried to revive Mana.

Father and son stared awkwardly at each other until Cross worked up the nerve to speak. "I didn't know. You know that, right?"

Allen nodded once. He couldn't find any words to say to his former teacher. He was still trying to wrap his head around the knowledge that the man was his biological father.

"I would have treated you differently if I had known. I-"

A snort of derision from Allen interrupted him. That one ridiculous statement was all it took for the neko to get his tongue working again. "No you wouldn't have. I was the host of the Fourteenth Noah. You knowing that I was your son wouldn't have made a difference at all."

Cross raised his hand to slap the boy, but he caught the slight smirk Allen was giving him and instead flicked the kid's cat ear. "Brat."

Allen rolled his eyes at the redhead. "Look, maybe you really would have treated me better. Maybe you wouldn't have made me spend my thirteenth birthday alone at a brothel. Or maybe you'd have treated me worse. You may not have been the best master, but even when you were drunk, you never hit me. So stop with the sappy talk and just apologize already."

Cross laughed as he pulled Allen into a hug. "Fine. I'm sorry for treating you the way I did. And for the record, I've regretted my behavior towards you long before today."

"I know. Thanks for saying it out loud though."

The awkward hug tightened painfully, and Allen struggled to escape Cross' grip. The redhead stared seriously down at the teen. "There's no need to tell Natasha any stories from our time together, understand?"

"Maybe~." Allen smirked at the implied threat, he finally had blackmail material on Cross. But there was only one thing he wanted from the man. "You'll have to answer some questions first."

Cross laughed as he released the neko and led the teen over to a couch. He spoke confidently as they sat down; he had seen the way Allen interacted with Natasha and knew exactly what was on the neko's mind. "You want to know about my relationship with your mother."

The scrunched up frown that Allen gave him made him laugh. Then he sighed heavily as he leaned back and lit a cigarette. "I met Natasha on a mission not long after I became a general. She would have been about your age at the time. We were together for six months."

Allen tensed at that. While it was relieving that his mother wasn't one of Cross' _many_ one-night stands, there was only one reason why the redhead would have been with a woman for that long. "So she was rich."

"Nope."

The way the color drained from the neko's face was almost comical. He swallowed hard before he spoke. "You mean..."

Feeding the remnants of his cigarette to Timcanpy, Cross sighed. "You once asked me what I would do if I ever got a woman pregnant. I told you I'd do the right thing, but we both knew it was a lie; I would have been gone in a heartbeat if that happened. Natasha was different though. I might actually have stayed if I had known."

Allen was more than a little shocked to hear Cross admit to liking a woman so much that he'd have stayed with her even if his worst nightmare came true. But there was something wrong with what the man was saying. "If that's really true, why'd you leave her?"

The redhead shrugged as he lit another cigarette. "This place. I got called away on a mission and never went back."

They fell into an awkward silence after that. Allen nervously fiddled with his tail. "So what happens now?"

Cross took a long drag on his cigarette and let it out slowly. "You probably don't want to hear this, but I'm going to try to make it work with Natasha. There's something there still, and we want to find out what it is. While I'm here at headquarters, I'll reclaim Judgement, and then we're going to go travel together. You're welcome to come with us if you want; she would probably like it you did. But you're a general now; you've got your own duties to attend to."

"I'm not a general." Allen's quiet words cut off Cross' ramblings. He had planned on keeping that from the redhead, to avoid his teasing, but with everything that had happened that day, hiding it no longer felt right. "Central refused to promote me because I'm a neko."

Cross suddenly grabbed his collar and got in his face. "Then why the hell didn't you let Natasha try to change you back?!"

Allen sighed heavily and pushed Cross' hand away. "I've already told you that. My Innocence did this to me. I don't want to find out what will happen if I try to undo that. Besides, it's not like Central would change their minds if I was human again. This whole thing was just a convenient excuse for them to do what they were going to do anyway."

.x.x.

Camilla and I returned to headquarters well after dinner, but we had finished the mission in time to return home that night, so it was a victory for us. I was anxious to find Allen and see how he was coping with everything that had happened that morning; I had a hard enough time with the idea that the witch who cursed him was his biological mother, there was no telling how _he_ was taking it, he seemed pretty messed up when he ran off earlier. Fortunately, there was no need to lie to Camilla about why I wanted to return home so quickly; instead, the Moyashi's absence meant that she was just as eager to get back as I was.

While I went to find my Moyashi, Camilla ran off to find Lenalee. The two women were practically inseparable when they were both at headquarters; apparently neither of them had had a friend their same age and gender before. And with the way Camilla got along with Lavi and Allen, despite being allergic to the neko, the result was that my barely manageable circle of four friends was now a circle of five.

From the gossip I overheard in the halls, General Cross and Natasha had already left. Together. There was some speculation as to whether they were dating, but that was clearly just people being stupid; Cross wouldn't do that to Allen. The reactions towards Natasha being Allen's biological mother were mixed. Some thought she was just like him: one of the nicest people you'd ever meet, while others thought there was something off about her. But the gossipers all agreed that hearing Allen call her 'Mum' was just too weird. I had to agree with them on that. The Moyashi was far too tolerant if he was thinking of the witch who cursed him as his mother.

It wasn't hard to find the neko, he was in _my_ room after all, and it was a lot less shocking to find him there now that he had a key. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the wall. He turned his head towards me when I closed the door behind me, but that expression never changed. He didn't even respond to my, "How are you holding up, Moyashi?"

Approaching him cautiously, I tangled my fingers into the brat's soft white hair and captured his lips. He returned the kiss, but I could tell from the lackadaisical way he fought back that he was stressed out. Moving my fingers to his ears, I began to rub that soft spot where they met his head. The motion had the desired effect: it got a reaction out of him. Sure, getting pushed away wasn't the reaction I had hoped for, but it was a reaction. The blank way he'd been staring at me before was freaky.

Allen moved away from me and collapsed backwards onto the mattress. The light had returned to his silver eyes, and so I waited for him to voice whatever was bothering him. But he didn't speak, instead he gestured for me to join him on the bed. I lay down beside him, as he clearly wanted me to, and that's when he let out a heavy sigh. "Hey, Yuu? What would you do if it turned out that General Teidoll actually was your father?"

That was a very disturbing suggestion. I didn't want to think about it, so I brushed it off. "Che. I'd probably kill someone. Why do you ask?"

Allen didn't respond, he just stared at the ceiling. So I pressed. I rolled over so that I was kneeling over him, and stared into his eyes. "And why would you be thinking about such a thing anyway? Shouldn't you still be freaked out over meeting your mother?"

The neko had broken the stare, but his silence was the answer I needed; it just took a moment for it to click. I sat back on my heels, startled by the conclusion I'd reached. "Wait. Are you saying that _General Cross_ is your _father_?"

A weak nod confirmed my suspicions. Allen let out another heavy sigh. "Apparently. So not only has my mother spent the last fifteen years looking for me, but I was actually, partially, raised by my biological father. Everything I thought I knew about myself is wrong. It's just so-"

I leaned down and silenced him with a kiss. But my attempt to distract him was rewarded with yet another heavy sigh. "Come on, Moyashi, loosen up."

He just snorted and pulled himself out from under me. "My name's Allen, Bakanda."

"Che. No, it's not."

"Yes it is!"

I snorted. "I was there when your mother told her story, Moyashi. 'Allen' is not the name you were given when you were born." I paused my taunting as a thought occurred to me. "So wait, your real name is Robin Marian? Are you sure that your mother loved you? That seems like a horrible name to inflict on a child."

The comment earned me a punch to the shoulder. "Stop being such a bastard and help me. What am I supposed to do now?"

I sighed. "How should I know? I was born in a laboratory. This kind of thing isn't exactly something I have experience with."

I caught his wrist before he could hit me again and pulled him close. "But it seems to me like you don't need to do anything. So it turns out that your parents aren't what you thought they were, so what? It's not like that changes who you are; you're still the same annoying Moyashi. You're still going to be an exorcist with questionable loyalties towards the Fourteenth. You're still going to want to go out and save the souls of the akuma. Right?"

When he didn't answer, I leaned into his neck and kissed the spot on his jaw where his human ear used to be. I smirked at the way he squirmed under my touch. "You're still going to want to be with _me_ , right?"

The elbow to my stomach was immediately followed by the Moyashi throwing his arms around me and kissing me. I could have laid there and kissed him forever, the Moyashi was _that_ good with his tongue, but there was something else I wanted from the neko.

This time he played along with my advances, and our tongues danced as he let me strip him of his shirt and vest to reveal that perfect pale skin that I loved so much. His slim fingers made short work of the buttons on my jacket, and I shrugged the garment off without breaking our kiss.

Allen wasn't having that though, and shoved me away as he yanked my shirt over my head. The action wasn't as smooth as he intended it to be, and the black fabric got caught on my ponytail, leaving me awkwardly stuck in my shirt. The Moyashi giggled as I disentangled myself, untying my hair in the process, but the laughter turned into a shriek when I yanked his pants off without unbuttoning them as payback.

The Moyashi looked delicious blushing bright red like that, and the fact that he was laying on my bed, clad in only his boxers, just made the sight that much more perfect. I took a moment to memorize that image of the neko as I swiftly kicked off my boots, and then I hopped back on the bed and recaptured his coral lips. He moaned into the kiss, and I felt his fingers travel through my hair, down my back, and settle on my waistband. Feeling playful, I wriggled away from his touch, causing the neko to repeatedly fumble with my belt. It was amusing until he broke the kiss with a frustrated whine. "Come on, Yuu; just take your pants off already!"

Not wanting to push him too far in his stressed out state, I conceded, but I kept up the teasing, making a show of slowly unthreading my belt from my pants. The buckle hit the ground with a dull thud as I tossed it aside, and Allen took advantage of my momentary distraction to unbutton my pants and pull them off my hips. I raised an eyebrow at him. "What's with you, Moyashi? We had sex yesterday. You're usually only this impatient when it's been awhile."

The neko blushed and buried his face in the crook of his elbow. He let out a deep groan as he spoke. "Was that really just yesterday? It feels like forever ago."

I answered the rhetorical question by leaning over him and marking his collarbone with a hickey. He responded to the touch by letting out a sound that was a cross between a moan and a meow, which only made his blush deepen. It baffled me that that noise still embarrassed him. I loved every inch of that boy's body, and that included his cat features; I even knew that there were fifty three bones in his tail, while he probably didn't even know that it was thirty two inches long. But when given the choice, he had chosen to remain a neko, and that was all that mattered.

After shimmying the rest of the way out of my pants, I left off marking my Moyashi in favor of removing his last piece of clothing. His boxers were tossed unceremoniously into the corner, and mine received the same treatment. And now that we were both completely naked, it was time to get down to business.

As if it weren't already obvious that he had had a stressful day, Allen made no attempt to top me, and instead let me have my way with him. I certainly had no problems with that; as much as I loved his fighting spirit, I also loved being able to do whatever I wanted to him. Hearing _Allen_ , who I had once thought hated me, beg for me to take him was one of the most intoxicating sounds ever. And tonight I was going to make him so blissed out that he forgot about everything but me and what I was doing to him.

My hands started on his ears, relaxing him to the point where he began to purr; that sound alone was the reason I was glad he had stayed a neko: I loved hearing it. Meanwhile I slowly kissed every one of the scars on the Moyashi's pale chest, knowing that they were some of his most sensitive spots. He wriggled his hips and whined for me to hurry up. I ignored him as best I could, but hearing him beg like that was quite a turn on, and it made it hard for me to focus.

Flipping the Moyashi over, I very deliberately let my hands roam down his back, taking my time as I sought out the base of his tail. He made the most delicious sounds as I licked and nipped along his spine, and when my fingers finally reached that hypersensitive spot where soft white fur merged with smooth skin, the moans and whines quickly turned into incoherent gurgles.

When the cries got to be too much and I absolutely could not ignore my own need any longer, I left off playing with his tail so that I could focus on stretching his opening. Though I wanted to prolong his pleasure, the sounds he was making were just too erotic, and I knew I wasn't going to last as long as I wanted to if they continued. Each saliva-slicked finger that I pushed inside his tight hole made him moan louder. I carefully avoided his prostate as I worked, knowing that it would make the Moyashi snap and say the words I wanted to hear him say. "F-Fuck! Yuuu! S-Stop teasing and take me already!"

I smirked; not only had he said what I wanted him to, but he swore and used my first name in the process. It was beautiful hearing him let loose like that.

Pulling my fingers out of him, I let the Moyashi roll onto his back and was greeted with a gorgeous sight. His lean chest was heaving with each breath and his scarred face was flushed deep red, but the best part was the sight of his straining erection. He was barely holding it together, but I hadn't pushed him over the edge yet.

Allen wrapped his legs around my neck, and I was momentarily distracted by a desire to find out just how flexible the neko was. But now wasn't the time for that, and I hastily positioned myself at his entrance and thrust into him.

The tight heat that surrounded my shaft felt wonderful, and it took all my self-control to not begin pounding into the Moyashi immediately. I paused once my length was fully sheathed inside the neko and impatiently waited for Allen to tell me he was ready for me to move. I didn't need the verbal consent; I could read my Moyashi's body language well enough to know when he was ready without hearing him say it, but the words were a confirmation that Allen wanted me to do this to him. "Ok, Yuu, I'm ready. Move."

I pulled out and quickly thrust back in, making the Moyashi make that meowing moan once more as I hit his prostate. The action was repeated, and it didn't take long at all to find our rhythm. Allen's fingers gripped the sheets tightly as he moved his hips to meet my thrusts. It intensified the friction between us, and I neared my end much sooner than I would have liked. I needed to make sure the Moyashi came before I did, but there was no need to worry. Before I could change positions so that could I reach Allen's erection, his moans changed. "Unnn! Yuuu! I'm gonna-!"

His walls tightened around me as he reached orgasm, the feeling pushing me over the edge. I released deep inside of him as his seed splashed against both of our torsos.

Like always, I was the first to recover, and I pulled myself out of Allen. I wanted to just lay on the bed and do nothing, but the drying semen on my torso was annoying. Forcing myself off the bed, I grabbed my shirt from the floor and used it to clean myself off. The Moyashi stirred with a groan. He wordlessly took the soiled shirt from me and wiped off his stomach.

I tossed the shirt in the hamper, and turned around to find Allen searching for his boxers. Two months ago, the action would have meant that he was getting ready to leave, but now that our relationship was stable, it was simply him not wanting to sleep naked. He jokingly claimed that wearing his boxers would stop me from molesting him in his sleep.

Slipping on my own boxers, I climbed under the blankets and the Moyashi soon joined me. He gave me a quick kiss before we lay back against the pillows. Allen immediately snuggled into my chest and began purring in contentment. The noise was so soothing that I barely had time to finish pulling the blankets over us before I began nodding off. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep with my Moyashi wrapped tightly in my arms was, "I love you, Yuu."

"I love you too, Allen."

~The End~

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: So that's the end of "Of Cats and Witches". There is a sequel, which I plan to start posting in 4 weeks (on 2/9/17). I hope you'll all come back for it. ;) In the meantime, if you have any questions about the story (or comments, or things you want to see) let me know before then so that I can try to answer them in the sequel.


	27. Author's Note

The sequel is up!

You can find it here: s/12358623/1/A-Second-Neko


End file.
